Sharapova enjoys a winning return at Melbourne Park
MELBOURNE: FORMER champion Maria Sharapova enjoyed a winning return to the Australian Open as she wore down Germany’s Tatjana Maria 6-1 6-4 yesterday to take her place in the second round.
The 30-year-old Russian, who served a 15-month doping ban last year after testing positive for banned substance meldonium after her Melbourne defeat by Serena Williams in 2016, met some rugged resistance but had too much power for Maria.
There was plenty of for 47th ranked support fivetimes grand slam champion Sharapova with regular shouts of “C’mon Masha, we’ve missed you” around the Margaret Court Arena.
Her opponent was actually one place higher on the WTA rankings and the same age as Sharapova, but there was a vast difference in pedigree with the German never having gone beyond the third round in 22 previous grand slams.
Sharapova, who won the title 10 years ago, dropped serve to lose her only game in the opening set, although the rallies were often drawn out with Maria showing tenacious scrambling skills.
She was made to work harder in the second set, but sealed victory with an ace to book a second round encounter against 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova.
“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been here so I wanted to enjoy the moment and it was really meaningful to be out here today,” Sharapova said in a post-match interview.
“I’ve got shivers, I cherish these moments.”
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova’s return to the Australian Open a year after being attacked by an intruder at her home ended in disappointment with a marathon 6-3 4-6 10-8 first-round loss to German Andrea Petkovic yesterday.
A former quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park, 27-yearold Kvitova missed last year’s event as she recovered from surgery to her left hand which was injured by a knife-wielding assailant weeks before the tournament.
Kvitova showed she was back to a level approaching her dominant best with a last-eight appearance at the US Open, but her clash with former top-10 player Petkovic ended in heartbreak after she double faulted on match point when serving at 5-4 in the third set on Show Court Two.
Petkovic saved another match point with a forehand winner to level at 5-5 and fought back from another break down.
Serving to stay in the contest, 27th seed Kvitova suffered an attack of nerves, missing a straightforward volley before surrendering the match with her 10th double fault and sixth of the set. – Reuters