Maria Sharapova came from behind to claim an ultimately comfortable 4-6 6-4 6-0 victory over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of the Madrid Open on Sunday.
Sharapova made her comeback in April following a 15-month ban for failing a drugs test, reaching the semi-finals at the Stuttgart Open – a performance that saw her re-enter the WTA rankings at number 262.
An exhibition defeat to Monica Puig in the Spanish capital followed and her Madrid Open campaign threatened to be a short one as the controversial wildcard entry fell a set down to Lucic-Baroni.
However, the fired-up Russian fought back against the world number 20 to set up a second-round clash with Eugenie Bouchard.
.@MariaSharapova downs Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-4, 6-0!
— WTA (@WTA) 7 May 2017
Sets @MutuaMadridOpen Second round showdown vs @GenieBouchard! pic.twitter.com/vwiSdGGcuC