Maria Sharapova has secured her place in the second round at the Australian Open, beating Petra Martic 6-4 6-1 in the Rod Laver Arena today.

Martic served well in the opening couple of games in the first set, but was broken in the sixth, which was enough for the Russian to claim the set.

The second seed looked even stronger in the second as she forced a string of errors from the Croatian to go up a double break.

Sharapova struggled with her serve as she looked to open up a 5-0 lead though, giving Martic a chance to get a break back, but the 2008 champion dug deep to hold serve.

Martic made sure that she avoided a 6-0 scoreline in the second set, and had a couple of break points in the final game as she Sharapova struggled to get over the final hurdle, but she she fired an ace past her opponent to seal her spot in round two, where she will face fellow Russian Alexandra Panova.