Maria Sharapova exults after beating Venus Williams on Sunday

Miami: Maria Sharapova rallied to avenge a Wimbledon defeat with a three-set victory over Venus Williams, but she had to wait another day to see if she’ll get a similar chance against Serena Williams.

Top-seeded Sharapova beat Venus Williams 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the fourth round of the $6.9 million WTA and ATP Masters series tournament here.

Sharapova, who lost to Venus in their last meeting — in the 2005 Wimbledon semi-finals — emerged with the victory in a hard-fought match on Sunday. The windy conditions contributed to the 50 unforced errors and 12 double faults by Venus and 35 unforced errors and 13 double faults by Sharapova.

After going 2-0 up in the opening set Sharapova surrendered the next six games. She responded in kind in the second set to force the decider, which ended when Venus fired long.

Sharapova was next due to face either Australian Open champion Serena Williams or Czech Lucie Safarova.

Sharapova was joined in the fourth round by second-seeded Belgian Justine Henin, No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, while fifth-seeded Swiss Martina Hingis exited in the third round for the second straight year.

Henin, who claimed the No. 1 world ranking from Sharapova this week, was just two points from defeat but rallied to beat Virginie Razzano of France 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).

In men’s action second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain and No. 3 Andy Roddick of the United States advanced to Round IV.

Nadal was handed a walkover after Belgium’s Olivier Rochus withdrew with a foot injury and Roddick defeated Gilles Simon of France, 6-4, 6-4.

Roddick has yet to lose a serve in his two matches here, but he admitted that he has yet to play his best tennis. Roddick next faces 13th-seeded David Ferrer, a 7-6 (7/0), 6-2 winner over Simone Bolelli.

Paul-Henri Mathieu of France upset fifth-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) and will face 12th-seeded Andy Murray of Scotland in the fourth round.