Sharapova makes winning grass return

Former world number one Maria Sharapova cruised into the second round of the WTA Birmingham grasscourt event here on Monday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Canada's Stephanie Dubois.

The unseeded 22-year-old Russian, twice a winner at the Edgbaston Priory Club, will now play American 19-year-old Alexa Glatch, who defeated ninth-seeded compatriot Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

Sharapova, a three-time Grand Slam winner, reached the quarter-finals of the French Open last week after a 10-month absence due to a shoulder injury. It was Sharapova's first grasscourt match of the season but she raced into a 4-1 lead before surviving a break and closing out the set.

BIRMINGHAM, England, Tuesday AFP