By Chris Oddo | Wednesday April 26, 2017
Maria Sharapova made her return to tennis on the red clay of Stuttgart, and the three-time Porsche Tennis Grand Prix champion appears to be in mid-season form already. She battled past Roberta Vinci, 7-5, 6-3, to set up a second-round encounter with compatriot Ekaterina Makarova.
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"It's the best feeling in the world," she said during her on-court interview after the match. "The first few seconds before you enter the arena—it's been a stage of mine since I was a young girl—I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."
Vinci gave Sharapova all she could handle in the opener, racing out to a 2-0 lead and saving a few break points to hold for 5-4 in the first set. But the Russian answered the bell, serving to stay alive at 5-all then taking the final two games to notch the first stanza.
Sharapova made 80 percent of her first serves in her first five service games and won 80 percent of those points. When she broke, she used the backhand to do the damage. She yanked a crosscourt return winner for her first break in the third game of the set then broke decisively for 6-5 with a backhand return down the line that was accompanied by a huge “COME ON!”
Sharapova finished the first set with 24 winners to just six for Vinci.
In the second set Sharapova saved all three break points she faced and won 12 of 13 first-serve points. She broke in the first game of the set and again in the last game to seal her victory in one hour and 42 minutes.
She finished with 11 aces, 39 winners and 21 unforced errors; Vinci countered with 10 winners and 20 unforced.
Sharapova improves to 3-0 lifetime against Vinci, 14-1 lifetime at Stuttgart and 131-26 lifetime on clay. She will face Makarova for the seventh time in the second round, and has defeated the southpaw in all six of their previous meetings.
"I think every match no matter who I play is important for me,” Sharapova said. “It's important to play points, games, sets, it's important for me."