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 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."
Looking revitalized 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."
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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 U.S. 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."
(Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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