Maria Sharapova reached the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart defeating Italy’s Roberta Vinci in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 on Wednesday. The match was a highly anticipated contest given that it was the Russian’s first official match on the WTA Tour, marking her comeback from her 15-month ban dating back to the 2016 Australian Open.

The 30-year-old won in an hour and 43 minutes, with the first set itself lasting 59 minutes. Vinci broke Sharapova in her opening service game to lead 2-0, but the three-time former Stuttgart Open champion broke back right away to equalise the set at 2-all. A second break on Vinci’s serve in the 11th game of the set saw Sharapova consolidate the break by taking a one set lead in the match.

The second set was more one-sided as Sharapova settled into her rhythm. Sharapova had three match points on Vinci’s serve in the ninth game of the set and advanced further in the draw, following a backhand unforced error from the 34-year-old.

Sharapova finished the match with 39 winners, nearly four times as many as Vinci’s 10. She also had 21 unforced errors to Vinci’s 20. Both players were erratic in their break point conversion though, with Sharapova converting just four of her 12 chances throughout the match, and Vinci converting just one of the six opportunities she had on her rival’s serve.

In her post-match press conference, the former world No 1 said, “I trained quite intensively since January but it’s been in different phases. But nothing in training is like going out there today. I was definitely rusty. I made a few return unforced errors. I could name a lot of things. But overall, I got through it and that’s the process I look forward to getting through.”

In the second round, Sharapova will take on countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova, who upset the seventh seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round on Tuesday.