MADRID: Maria Sharapova set up a mouth-watering second-round clash with Eugenie Bouchard at the Madrid Open on Monday after battling back from a set down to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 on Sunday.
Bouchard called the Russian "a cheater" last week and suggested she should have been banned for life -- rather than 15 months -- after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
And the Canadian said she would have "a bit more motivation" against her former idol Sharapova after registering a first win on the WTA Tour since January against Alize Cornet on Saturday to set up the grudge match.
"My tennis speaks for itself, and that´s what I focus on," said Sharapova, 30, whose immediate return after her ban has gone down badly with some of her fellow players."
Despite the controversy surrounding the decision to hand her a wildcard, Sharapova was given a warm reception by the sparse crowd on the main Manolo Santana court in the Spanish capital.
After reaching the semi-finals on her return from her doping ban last week in Stuttgart, Sharapova showed impressive levels of fitness to dig deep after a tough couple of opening sets against world number 20 Lucic-Baroni.
There were four breaks of serve in the opening six games, but Lucic-Baroni was good value for her lead when she served to take the first set.
Former number one Sharapova bounced back at the start of a gruelling second set that lasted over an hour by moving 4-1 in front.
However, Lucic-Baroni held off four set points and then broke back for 5-4.
The Croatian´s good work was undone, though, by a sloppy service game as Sharapova broke once more to level at one-set all.
And there was no stopping the five-time Grand Slam champion in the decider as she dismissed a dispirited Lucic-Baroni for the loss of just 11 points.
World number two Angelique Kerber eased into round two with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over Hungary´s Timea Babos while defending champion Simona Halep cruised past Kristyna Pliskova 6-1, 6-2.
However, home favourite and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza´s disappointing form this season continued as she was blown away 6-1, 6-3 by Switzerland´s Timea Bacsinszky.
Caroline Wozniacki took nearly three-and-a-half hours on court to eventually overcome Monica Niculescu 7-5, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 after nearly Sharapova´s conqueror in Stuttgart, Kristina Mladenovic -- another fierce critic of the Russian -- is also safely through when Ana Konjuh retired after Mladenovic levelled at one set all.
Eighth seed and 2015 finalist in Madrid, Svetlana Kuznetsova, beat Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-3.