Maria Sharapova is through to the second round of the Madrid Masters after she secured a comfortable victory over Alexandra Dulgheru.
The world number two had to fight hard to win the opening set, but she coasted through the second to record a 7-5 6-2 victory.
Both players broke serve once as they shared the opening 10 games of the first set, before Sharapova struck again to edge closer to the next round.
Dulgheru, who is ranked 334th in the world, struggled to keep pace with the Russian in the second, and quickly fell 4-1 behind.
She held serve to remain competitive in the match, but Sharapova's greater quality proved too much, and she soon sealed the match.
Written by
Darren Plant
Darren Plant
