Ruthless Sharapova brushes Shvedova aside

BRISBANE: Top seed Maria Sharapova began her 2015 campaign in ruthless fashion as she brushed aside Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 6-1 in the second round of the Brisbane International on Tuesday.
Sharapova dominated her opponent in every department as she raced through the first set in just 23 minutes.
Shvedova, a qualifier from Kazakhstan, offered more resistance in the second but was no match for the world number two.
Sharapova had not played a competitive match since the WTA Finals in October. But there were no signs of rust as she cruised into the quarter-finals.
“It certainly felt good to start (well) after not playing a match for a couple of months,” Sharapova said.
“Despite all the training, it’s such a different feeling to go out on the court and play in front of a crowd in an actual match atmosphere.
“I wanted to start off sharp and try to do the right things.”
Sharapova broke her opponent five times throughout the match, but had to save two break points on her own serve in the second set.
She said this was important in stopping any chance of a Shvedova comeback.
“She lost the first set in her previous match (against Sabine Lisicki) 6-0 and ended up winning the match in a tough three-set battle, so you never know,” Sharapova said.
“There were moments where I saved a few important break points, which was crucial. That gave me good confidence towards the end of that second set.”
Sharapova will now play the winner of the clash between seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.