Eugenie Bouchard has claimed that "most" of her fellow tennis professionals share her opinion that Maria Sharapova is a "cheater".

The Canadian hit out at the five-time Grand Slam winner last month, claiming that she should be banned from the sport for life after testing positive for heart drug meldonium last year.

Sharapova, who was deemed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport not to have intentionally cheated, recently returned to action after serving a 15-month doping ban.

Bouchard faced the Russian for the first time since her critical comments, and she came out on top with a three-set win in the second round of the Madrid Open.

While facing the media in her post-match press conference, Bouchard suggested that a number of players agree with her stance about Sharapova, but they have been "scared to speak out".

"I definitely had some extra motivation going into today," the 23-year-old told reporters. "I was actually quite inspired before the match because I had a lot of players coming up to me privately wishing me good luck, players I don't normally speak to, getting a lot of texts from people in the tennis world that were just rooting for me.

"So I wanted to do it for myself, but also all these people. I really felt support. It showed me that most people have my opinion, and they were just maybe scared to speak out."

Bouchard's victory was the first in five attempts against Sharapova.