Former world No 1 Maria Sharapova has made a triumphant return to Grand Slam competition on Monday after a 15-month doping ban.
This after outlasting second-ranked Simona Halep 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the women’s singles competition at the US Open.
The 30-year-old, who had only one hardcourt tune-up match due to a nagging forearm injury, swatted 60 winners with 64 unforced errors, setting the tempo and baffling Halep at times in a tension-packed thriller at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Sharapova, who tested positive for meldonium at last year’s Australian Open, now moves on to a second-round matchup against Hungarian Timea Babos, whom she has never played.
The Russian also improved to 7-0 in her all-time rivalry with Halep, extending her mastery over the 25-year-old Romanian.
“This girl has a lot of grit,” Sharapova said of herself. “And she’s not going anywhere.”
Action on Monday also Reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza advancing with a 6-0, 6-3 win over American Varvara Lepchenko while British 7th seed Johanna Konta was ousted after suffering a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Serbia’s 78th-ranked Aleksandra Krunic, thus removing the only other top-10 player from Sharapova’s draw quarter.
Action on the men’s side saw Barbadian debutante Darian King losing 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 to German 4th seed Alexander Zverev and Croatian 5th seed Marin Cilic beating American Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Other winners were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, John Isner and Sam Querrey.
German-Jamaican Dustin Brown bows into action against Brazilian Tomas Belluci on Tuesday while top seed Rafael Nadal faces Dusan Lajovic.