Sharapova sets up mouthwatering clash with Eugenie Bouchard

Maria Sharapova set up a mouth-watering second-round clash with Eugenie Bouchard at the Madrid Open after battling back from a set down to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 on Sunday.

Bouchard called the Russian “a cheater” last week and suggested she should have been banned for life -- rather than 15 months -- after testing positive for meldonium at the 2015 Australian Open.

And the Canadian said she would have “a bit more motivation” against her former idol Sharapova after registering a first win on the WTA Tour since January against Alize Cornet on Saturday to set up the grudge match.

Despite the controversy surrounding the decision to hand her a wildcard, Sharapova was given a warm reception by the sparse crowd on the main Manolo Santana court in the Spanish capital.

“My goal here is to play as many matches as I can,” said Sharapova, 30, whose immediate return after her ban has gone down badly with some of her fellow players.

“When you’re out of the game for a long time you just want to play as many games as possible.”

After reaching the semi-finals on her return from her doping ban last week in Stuttgart, Sharapova showed impressive levels of fitness to dig deep after a tough couple of opening sets against world number 20 Lucic-Baroni.

There were four breaks of serve in the opening six games, but Lucic-Baroni was good value for her lead when she served to take the first set.

Former number one Sharapova bounced back at the start of a gruelling second set that lasted over an hour by moving 4-1 in front. However, Lucic-Baroni held off four set points and then broke back for 5-4.

The Croatian’s good work was undone, though, by a sloppy service game as Sharapova broke once more to level at one-set all.