Sharapova brushes aside Shvedova in first outing of the season

Maria Sharapova of Russia signs autographs after her win over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan at the Brisbane International yesterday. (AFP)

Reuters/BrisbaneMaria Sharapova made a powerful start to the new tennis season, crushing Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-1 at the Brisbane International yesterday. After spending more than half her life on the professional circuit, the 27-year-old knows the follies of reading too much into her early matches but the Russian was still pleased by her performance. “It certainly felt good to start, after not playing a match for a couple of months. Despite all the training, it’s such a different feeling to go out on the court and play in front of a crowd,” she said. “You always want to apply the things you work on little by little into match atmosphere. I think I did that quite well. I wanted to start off sharp and try to do the right things,” she added.Looking revitalised after taking a break following her early exit from last year’s WTA Championhips in Singapore, Sharapova ticked all the boxes in her 63-minute romp against Shvedova. Sharapova served well, landing 67 per cent of her first serves and saving the two break points she faced, and was ruthless against Shvedova, racing through the opening set in just 23 minutes and jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the second. Shvedova, who came through the qualifiers just to get into the main field, was given an encouraging roar from the crowd at the Pat Rafter Arena when she won the 10th game but it proved to be a solitary moment of success as Sharapova quickly regained control. “It’s only the first match of the season. It only gets tougher from here. I have a bit of a different opponent if Suarez Navarro wins the next one,” said Sharapova, a semi-finalist in Brisbane last year. “We’ll see how that goes. Hopefully I continue to improve and take it a step further this year,” the Russian added.A year ago, Sharapova arrived in Australia still unsure about her prospects for the season after a shoulder injury forced her to miss the 2013 US Open. She went on to win four titles, including a second French Open, and finished the year ranked number two. This time around, she has no injury problems and is excited about the possibilities ahead after taking a two-month break to re-charge the batteries. “I really just kind of got away from it all. I didn’t check anything. It was nice not to have to check any scores or who you’re playing against,” she said. “But when you do come to a tournament, of course you’re very well aware of what’s going on, especially in the tournament.”   Wozniacki, Williams restore order to Auckland ClassicTop seed Caroline Wozniacki and former world number one Venus Williams ensured Auckland Classic organisers’ dream final remained on track with the duo both recording comfortable victories in their first-round matches yesterday. Two Grand Slam champions, however, were packing their bags and heading across the Tasman Sea to continue their Australian Open preparations with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone bundled out in the first round. Fifth-seeded Kuznetsova, a US Open and French Open champion, was beaten by Lucie Hradecka 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 in a marathon two-hour, 25-minute match on centre court while 2010 French Open champion Schiavone was beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Urszula Radwanska. There were no such upsets for Wozniacki and Williams, however, as the Dane dispatched Israeli qualifier Julia Glushko 6-3, 6-2 while third seed Williams was imperious in her 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova. “Usually when you win easily everything is going right, Williams told reporters of her 52-minute match in which she broke Cepelova five times. “I would like to play as many matches as possible and thankfully I felt pretty comfortable on the court so that’s a plus. I was happy with my serve. I felt comfortable at the net and I was pretty calm. “Sometimes your mind can be going a thousand miles an hour, especially when it’s the first match of the season, so for the most part I felt like I was playing in real time and not fast forward,” the American added. Wozniacki was not as convincing as Williams but the 68-minute match undoubtedly shook out any cobwebs and set up a second-round clash with American teenager Taylor Townsend, who beat 2010 Auckland champion Yanina Wickmayer on Monday. “It maybe wasn’t the prettiest match, but I got through it and I won it,” Wozniacki said afterwards. “It’s always tough the first match of the season, you just want to get going and into the groove. But I’m happy to be through and getting another chance to play out there.”