Tokyo, Sept 30: Russia's new tennis hearthrob Maria Sharapova took centre stage at the Japan Open today, cruising through her opening round match and winning over the crowd.

Fifth-seeded Sharapova, at 16 years and five months the youngest competitor here, tamed swirling wind with her hard-hitting strokes to beat South Korean Kim Jin-Hee 6-2 6-0.
"I think I had a really quick game. The wind was very strong, I was really surprised when I came out of the hotel. There was not much that you could have done more because the wind was so quick," said Sharapova.
"I just tried to play a solid game and concentrate well. I just think I did a good job."
Sharapova, who came to Tokyo a year ago as a wild card entrant, made her grand slam debut at the Australian Open in Melbourne in January and reached fourth round at Wimbledon.



She reached the quarter-finals at the Shanghai Open two weeks ago to move up to a career high 47 in world rankings.



The 2002 Australian Open junior finalist hopes to improve her ranking during the remaining part of the season despite WTA rules prohibiting players aged 16 from playing more than 10 tournaments a year.



"I think that I'm actually getting a little bit more experience as the year has gone on. I played some really great opponents and learned a lot more since last year," she said.



In other matches today, 18-year-old sixth seed Ashley Harkleroad of the United States took the first 12 points in a row for a lopsided 6-0 6-0 win over Maika Ozaki of Japan.



Russia's Maria Kirilenko, 16, crashed 1-6 2-6 against Akiko Morigami of Japan, who will meet Shaparova in 2nd round.



Indonesian Angelique Widjaja also failed to clear first hurdle when she went down to Japan's Yuka Yoshida 4-6 5-7.


Bureau Report