Happy return for Sharapova after absence
MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova marked her return to the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the first round Tuesday.
The Russian was suspended from the tour for 15 months after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open. She made her return to the tour in April, but didn’t contest her first Grand Slam tournament until the U.S. Open, in which she reached the fourth round.
Sharapova, now ranked 48th, is one of two Australian Open champions in the women’s field. She won the tournament in 2008 and has reached the final on three other occasions.
“I’ve got shivers,” Sharapova said of playing again at Melbourne Park. “It means a lot to me. I cherish these moments.”
Sharapova is confident she’s prepared again for a major.
“I felt like I have got a lot of things out of the way physically and emotionally and mentally last year with ... there was a lot of firsts again for me, playing the first tournament, first Grand Slam, and just different feelings and what it would be routinely,” she said. “But it felt pretty routine today.”
The other champ in the field, Angelique Kerber, won her 10th match in a row to start the season, beating fellow German Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-0, 6-4.
Top-seeded Simona Halep overcame an injured left ankle to beat Australian wild-card entry Destanee Aiava 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Halep, who recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the first set, was moving across the baseline in the third game of the second set when her left foot caught on the court surface and she twisted her ankle, tumbling to the ground.
After an injury timeout to have her foot heavily taped, Halep returned to the court and had little trouble finishing off the 17-year-old.
Madison Keys reversed a trend, becoming the only one of the four American women who contested the U.S. Open semifinals in September to reach the second round in Australia. Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and CoCo Vandeweghe were eliminated on Day 1, when U.S. women went 1-9.
Keys, the 17th seed, had a 6-1, 7-5 win over Wang Qiang.
Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova advanced by beating Veronica Cepede Royg 6-3, 6-4.
No. 4 Elina Svitolina was a straight-sets winner over Ivana Jorovic.
No. 9 Johanna Konta beat Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-1, handing the American women their 10th loss in 11 matches.
Stanford alum Nicole Gibbs beat Viktoriya Tomova 6-1, 6-1.
On the men’s side, No. 13 Sam Querrey restored some order for the U.S. with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Feliciano Lopez. Two other U.S. contenders, No. 8 Jack Sock and No. 16 John Isner, were among the first-round casualties Monday.
Six-time champion Novak Djokovic beat American Donald Young 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
Top-seeded Rafael Nadal cruised past Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.