Maria Sharapova was delighted with her performance as she managed to fight back to beat Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru in the second round of the US Open.
The Russian made far too many mistakes in the opening set but she eventually wrapped up the 4-6 6-3 6-2 win in two hours and 38 minutes.
Sharapova was forced to dig deep at this year’s French Open on a number of occasions before she eventually went on to win the title in Paris.
The 27-year-old missed the US Open last year after she was forced to undergo surgery on her troublesome right shoulder.
12 months on from her operation and Sharapova showed she had the fitness and power needed to unsettle Dulgheru, although she admitted the conditions had made for a tough match.
“We started under the sun and finished under the lights,” said Sharapova. “It was tricky conditions, a tough opponent so I’m very happy I was able to come back and come through and win this match.”
“Overall I felt like in the end I was in much better shape than she was, and I could have played another few sets. Mentally that helped me a lot.”
Elsewhere, second seed Simon Halep cruised through to the next round of the competition with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Jana Cepelova.
Caroline Wozniacki picked up a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich while Venus Williams beat Timea Bacsinszky 6-1 6-4.
Sharapova will take on 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki in the next round and she is currently 6.50 to win the US Open title at Flushing Meadows.
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