Maria Sharapova proves too strong for Timea Bacsinszky

Maria Sharapova got her Madrid Open title defence off to a flying start by overcoming a difficult test against a resurgent Timea Bacsinszky in the opening round.

The world number three served strongly throughout, and she was able to break her opponent early on to race into a comfortable 5-1 lead in the opening set.

Bacsinszky made her opponent battle hard to wrap things up in a tightly-contested final game, but the Russian made no mistake to take the set.

The second set proved to be equally as straightforward for Sharapova, who held her serve after grabbing a foothold in the contest in the eighth game to secure her passage through to the second round with a 6-2 6-3 triumph.