Maria SharapovaNo. 5 seed, Maria Sharapova of Russia, easily defeated her compatriot, No. 52 ranked Anna Chakvetadze in the opening round at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-1.

Sharapova is beginning to show her old form and looking fully healthy again after being forced off the tour for 10 months with a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Sharapova, with her signature loud shrieking, took apart her compatriot in the opening set with a pair of service breaks while facing hardly any threat to her own serve. In the 2nd set, Sharapova was far less effective on her own serve, with Chakvetadze having four break points. She converted on only one of them, and her own weak delivery was punished by Sharapova, who broke serve four times to make sure of her place in round two.

After the match, Sharapova said: “It was great to be back on Centre Court, considering that I didn’t play a warmup tournament. I felt like I had to be ready from the first point. I played against an opponent that’s been in the top 10 before

[Anna is a former #5 in WTA singles]. Hasn’t had the best results this year. But you don’t quite know what to expect… I thought she played a really good match, and I really had to step it up. I thought I did a good job of that.”

In the 2nd round on Thursday, Sharapova will play the winner of a postponed match, either No. 77 Angelique Kerber of Germany or the 2009 Wimbledon Juniors champion, British wild card No. 257 Laura Robson.