MELBOURNE (AFP) -
Fifth seed Maria Sharapova overwhelmed Lindsay Davenport in the Australian Open second round Wednesday to bring the US tennis mum's Grand Slam comeback to a juddering halt.





A match expected to be a hard-fought slugfest between two of the biggest hitters in the game ended with a one-sided 6-1, 6-3 scoreline as an intensely-focused Sharapova rattled Davenport with an early onslaught.



The glamorous Russian said she had to be at the top of her game against three-time Grand Slam champion Davenport, who has shown outstanding form since returning to the tour in September less than four months having a baby.



"I approached it like it was a final ever since I took a peek at the draw and saw that Lindsay was my second round," the Florida-based 20-year-old said.



"From the day I found out I might play her I started working towards her game. I wanted my coach to hit the ball as hard as he can for five days because she's one of the biggest hitters out there."



Sharapova, a losing finalist here last year, was pleased she could lift her game for a high-pressure match so early in her campaign for the season-opening Grand Slam.



"I was able to take it up when I had to and take my opportunities," she said.






"I served really well, I felt like I kept her guessing throughout the match."




Davenport, the champion here in 2000, had won 19 matches since coming back in September but said her first clash with a Grand Slam winner since becoming a mother showed she needed to improve to become a top 10 player again.



"She was head and shoulders better than I was," the American admitted.



Sharapova blasted an ace in the first game, setting out to dominate from start of a match believed to be the first time two former world number ones and multiple Grand Slam winners have met so early in a major.



She broke Davenport's serve in the next game and continued to use precision ground strokes to run her 31-year-old opponent from one corner of the court to another, snatching the first set 6-1 in 26 minutes.



Davenport, who had won 19 of her 20 previous matches since coming back after giving birth to son Jagger in June, regathered for the second set but could not match Sharapova, last year's beaten finalist.



The American, who won the title here in 2000, saved two match points but finally succumbed after 66 minutes to an opponent 11 years her junior.



Sharapova described Davenport's return to Grand Slam tennis so soon after giving birth as incredible and joked that baby Jagger had been cheering on his mother courtside.



"I felt bad because I thought I saw her little kid giving me dirty looks," she said.



Sharapova will play Russian Elena Vesnina in the third round.