Maria Sharapova beats Simona Halep in Grand Slam comeback at US Open with 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory
Shazza was at times brilliant and always compelling in her first Slam match since she failed a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open
MARIA SHARAPOVA returned to the Grand Slam stage in style with a gutsy victory in a New York classic against Simona Halep.
Sharapova was at times brilliant and always compelling as she made her first Major appearance since she failed a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open.
Tennis's glamour puss returned to the big stage in style
The ice queen of tennis wore a strange sparkly outfit that looked like bad lingerie but otherwise the popcorn clash of the first round of the US Open lived up to its star billing.
An emotional Sharapova, whose 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory made it seven wins and no losses against world No 2 Halep, said: "Everything you go through is so worth it for this moment.
"You sometimes wonder why you put in the work and this is exactly why.
"It's primetime, baby. These are the opportunities you play for. I embrace every moment of it. I love it.
"I can't wait for moments like that.
"Behind all these crystals and little back dresses this girl has a lot of grit and she isn't going anywhere."
MOST READ IN SPORT
Sharapova escaped any booing from the crowd for her anti-doping violation and the way she handled the fallout, but the welcome for Halep was noticeably warmer.
There is no love lost between the two women after Halep's criticism earlier in the year of the decision to give the Russian wildcards into big events after her comeback.
And what developed on the first evening of the event was a match worthy of being its climax.
Both players went for their shots from the start and although Sharapova was also making plenty of errors, when she found her flow the winners went flying off her racket.
Halep was typically dogged, chasing down every ball in the hope of provoking a mistake.
A long, tense opening set deserved to be settled by a tiebreak.
But after Halep ended a run of four breaks of serve by holding for 4-4, Sharapova stepped it up a gear again and a double fault gave her a set point which she took with yet another crunching winner.
The second set seemed likely to be less competitive when Sharapova went a break ahead and seemed to be moving towards victory.
But again Halep fought back and then took the Russian's serve to set up a chance to serve for the set, which she took but only after saving a host of break back points.
The weakness of the Romanian's second serve continued to be crucial as Sharapova beat seven bells out of each ball that sat up and begged to be hit.
She moved a break ahead in the decider at the first opportunity and kept it that way despite Halep's best efforts.
In a titanic final game, Sharapova came up with some extraordinary shots to complete her extraordinary return to the big time.
