French Open: Maria Sharapova digs deep to win on return

Maria Sharapova celebrates her win over The Netherlands' Richel Hogenkamp yesterday. Pic/AFP

Two-time champion Maria Sharapova survived a serious scare to claim a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp in her first French Open match since 2015 yesterday. The Russian was controversially not given a wildcard by organisers for the tournament last year, which took place shortly after her return from a doping suspension. Sharapova, the 28th seed, will face Croatia's Donna Vekic in the second round.

The five-time Grand Slam winner is only seeded at Roland Garros courtesy of a semi-final run in Rome earlier this month which dragged her back into the Top 30 for the first time since her ban. Easy first set Sharapova, 31, took just 24 minutes to win the first set of a match which was delayed from Monday due to thunderstorms, but threw away a 3-1 lead in the second as World No. 133 Hogenkamp forced a decider.

Sharapova was staring down the barrel of falling at first hurdle in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the 2010 Australian Open when trailing 3-0 in the third, but the former World No. 1 dug deep and reeled off six straight games to edge into Round Two. Muguruza through Meanwhile, Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza, third seeded, prevailed over Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 (7-0), 6-2 in the first round, after the match was suspended for around half an hour due to rain.

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