Winning return pleases Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon

Maria Sharapova said she was delighted to "take care of business", in her first match since losing in the French Open fourth round.

The world number four defeated in-form Briton Johanna Konta 6-2 6-2, after the latter reached the quarter-finals at Eastbourne as a wildcard.

Konta ousted known grass-court specialists Zarina Diyas and world number eight Ekaterina Makarova, and also accounted for top-20 player Garbine Muguruza at the Wimbledon lead-up event.

Sharapova said she had few insights on the 24-year-old's game, making her straightforward win all the more pleasing.

"I was quite pleased with the way things went today," Sharapova told a news conference.

"It was my first competitive match in about four weeks, so I just wanted to start off really strong, not knowing much about my opponent, just the result she had last week [made me wary].

"So coming in without any proper grass-court matches, I just wanted to take care of business and I thought I did a good job of that today.

She added: "I've had a really good last couple of weeks of practice.

"Of course in a match situation like that it's always different, especially when you haven't competed in a few weeks.

"That's absolutely normal but I felt quite good."

Sharapova reserved high praise for world number 126 Konta, who formerly represented the country of her birth Australia before defecting to the United Kingdom in 2012.

"She's a solid opponent and I really had to work for my points.

"She can serve really well and probably one of the reasons she did well last week was that her serve gets quite low on grass, it's a big advantage.

"She served second serves quite well, in the mid-90s [miles per hour], I believe, which is a pretty great second serve.

"But I felt quite good on the return and I thought that really helped me get in the point and get the first shot going."