Maria arrives in Japan

The darling of the tennis world, Maria Sharapova, will grace Japan from Dec. 20-24 for a three-city promotional blitz that will include singles matches against Japan"s top-ranked player, Ai Sugiyama.

The Maria Sharapova Japan Tour 2005 is the first leg of a planned world tour tentatively scheduled to stop in Russia, Hong Kong and Singapore in the following months.

The 18-year-old Russian will be showcasing her own brand of perfume and her own line of watches in addition to taking part in fashion shows, tennis clinics for children and doubles matches in Osaka on Wednesday, Nagoya on Thursday and Tokyo on Friday.