Maria Sharapova cruises at Wimbledon

Maria Sharapova was starstruck, which tells you how big David Beckham is.

Beckham, pro golfer Ian Poulter and onetime English soccer ace Bobby Charlton were among the Royal Box guests as Wimbledon celebrated its annual sports heroes Saturday.

Centre Court was the only one in use for several hours because of rain, the roof closed and Sharapova, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played third-round matches and won. Beckham was the only one of the special invitees who saw virtually all of Sharapova's 6-3, 6-0 win over Alison Riske.

"I always feel like I really understand and actually get starstruck more when I'm around athletes that have done incredible things in their career," Sharapova said, "rather than maybe musicians or other professions."

Sharapova, who lives in Manhattan Beach, California, said she has met Beckham, who played for the Los Angeles Galaxy following his career in Europe.

Sharapova, 27, who is Russian but has lived in the United States for two decades, has an opportunity to complete a rare double, winning the French Open, which she did earlier in June, and Wimbledon -- particularly with No. 1 seed Serena Williams eliminated a few hours after Sharapova's match.

"Well, this is only my second time to do that," Sharapova said about the chance for the two back-to-back majors. "Of course, the transition [from clay to grass] is very difficult. But I'm quite happy the way I've gone about things so far."

She should be. After having her serve broken the first game of the match against Riske, Sharapova was almost perfect.

"I thought I did a good job of maintaining my focus to the end," she said.