Maria Sharapova enters next round at Australian Open

Top seed Maria Sharapova battled into the second round of the Australian Open after recording a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 9-7 victory over Camille Pin.

The 19-year-old began in impressive fashion and claimed the first set, but was surprisingly pegged back by Pin in the second. Maria Sharapova opened a 5-1 lead in the deciding set before Pin fought back to serve for the match at 7-6. However, the world number 62 wasted the chance and Sharapova's class and power eventually came through after an epic third set at the Rod Laver Arena.

"I was so delusional I couldn't think," she said. "It was hard to think about what you were going to do on court because you were just mentally trying to find a way to kind of make the points shorter and basically trying to find a way to win. "It's inhumanly possible to play three hours in that kind of heat. I don't think our bodies were made to do that."