MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova has the second-best record among active players in first-round matches at the majors, and she gave an illustration of why that’s the case with a ruthless 6-0, 6-0 win over Harriet Dart at the Australian Open.
The 2008 Australian Open champion got play started on Rod Laver Arena on Monday and needed only 63 minutes to advance.
In her 15th trip to Melbourne Park and her 55th Grand Slam tournament, she’s acutely aware of the toll that the sun and long early matches can have on a player’s title ambitions, so she gets straight to business.
The 22-year-old Dart, ranked 132nd in the world and playing in the main draw of a major for only the second time after getting a wild-card entry last year at Wimbledon, only had one break-point chance – when Sharapova served a double-fault in the second set. She got seven of her 29 points from Sharapova’s double-faults.
That was the only real blemish in Sharapova’s stats. She hit 20 winners and was 5 for 5 at the net.
Sharapova, the No. 30 seed, said she’s still feeling pain in her right shoulder despite sitting out the end of last season after the U.S. Open.
Asked if she felt sorry for her young opponent, Sharapova, who lost in the first round at Wimbledon last year, said: “There’s no time for that when you’re playing the first round of a Grand Slam.”
Among players who’ve played at least 10 majors, only 23-time major winner Serena Williams (.986) has a better first-round record than Sharapova (.927).
Up next for Sharapova is Rebecca Peterson, who beat Sorana Cirstea, 6-4, 6-1.
Among the other seeded players advancing were No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 19 Caroline Garcia, No. 29 Donna Vekic and No. 31 Petra Martic.
Sharapova was one of five Australian Open titlists to play on Rod Laver Arena on Day 1. Rafael Nadal, who won his only Australian title in 2009, played James Duckworth, followed by 2016 winner Angelique Kerber against Polona Hercog.
Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki was scheduled to play Alison Van Utyvanck to start the night session, followed by six-time Australian champion Roger Federer’s match against Denis Istomin.
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