Sizzling Sharapova fires Grand Slam warning shot with dominant win

The Russian, attempting to win her first title at Melbourne Park since 2008, was in blistering form to take the match 6-1, 6-3 in 73 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.

Sharapova scored her 599th career victory today and will try to become the 17th woman in history to reach the 600-win mark when she faces American Lauren Davis next.

No. 10 Carla Suarez Navarro and No. 12 Belinda Bencic advanced along with 92nd-ranked Kateryna Bondarenko, who earned one of her biggest wins since returning from retirement in 2014 with a straight sets win over two-time major victor and No. 23-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The sixth-seeded Czech dispelled any lingering fitness doubts with a 6-3 6-1 win over Thai qualifier Luksika Kumkhum in the opening match at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

Meanwhile, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki crashed out of the Australian Open at the first hurdle after tossing away a one-set lead against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

“Actually it was OK”.

“I was up a break and I just let up”, Sharapova said. “Luckily it didn’t go five sets, which is good for my body”.

Williams, who plays later Friday, has been a huge weight around Sharapova’s neck throughout her career, with the Russian unable to beat her since 2004. She lost to Williams in the semifinals at Wimbledon last summer, and she didn’t participate in any tournament until The Wuhan Open at the end of September.

“Definitely today it was a hard piece of work for me”, Bencic said.

No. 13 Vinci beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3 to advance in the opposite quarter of the same half of the draw.

The 21-time major champion held her service at love in the next game, including two aces and a service victor, to close out the match in 1 hour, 45 minutes. “Overall, I’m just happy that I could get the match in because I know many players are waiting for the rain to stop”, Sharapova said, according to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

After a bathroom break, it was the Sharapova of old who returned in the deciding set, as she used her superior weaponry to utterly dismantle the American’s game, not even allowing Davis to trouble the scorers.

“It’s great to finish in three sets, especially against Philipp. He’s always tough to play”, Nishikori said.

The morning/afternoon session at Day 3 of the 2016 Australian Open featured a trio of matches in Rod Laver Arena. Sharapova will play Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich next, who defeated Evgeniya Rodina in her opening round match.

The top-seeded Djokovic was scheduled to play Andreas Seppi while six-time champion Williams took on Daria Kasatkina of Russian Federation.