The world number 36 gets the second set under way. I just wonder if Sharapova might find another gear here.

This time! It's taken nearly an hour, but Maria Sharapova has won her first set of tennis since last January. Roberta Vinci clung on, but was eventually pushed past. Can the Italian find a response?

Hold your horses. A forehand long keeps Vinci in it. Sharapova's skins shines with sweat as a Vinci return is wild. Set point number two...

Russian jitters? Sharapova peers from under that grey visor but sees a serve fly past her with twice the velocity after Vinci decides to take the handbrake off.

The Sharapova ace count continues to grow, though. Six now. 

Set point... 

Oh yes! Snap into a backhand return, tracking the line all the way and thudding into the back wall. A roar and a clench of the fist. Finally Vinci is swatted away. Sharapova will serve for the set. 

Are they just playing the same game on repeat? Once more Sharapova finds a way into the Vinci serve. 30-30 again. The Italian into the net. This time? 

The Sharapova movement is occasionally a little rusty - 15 months on the shelf will do that to you. When her long levers have time to stand and deliver the backhand, the line is found with laser-guided accuracy. The serve is getting mightier, too. Overtime needed.

The Italian clings on, keeping her nose in front with the sort of second serve a player of her size has no right to produce. You almost feel like Sharapova is destined to lose this set...

It's a mix of Vinci not going away and Sharapova not quite having that match-honed killer instinct. The odd Sharapova mistake, the occasional Vinci zinger, deuce after deuce...

That car at the back of the court is occasionally in danger from an errant tennis ball, subject to the sort of blow that used to get you in trouble with the neighbours. Vinci serve again under the pump, 30-30, then an errant backhand makes it 40-40. Would a sharper Sharapova take one of these chances?   

Has Sharapova been working on her serve over the past 15 months? She's winning more than 70% of points when she lands the first one. Hold to love - the first of the match. It's very easy for the former world number seven when she has the balls.

Well played, Roberta Vinci. Brave save with one that had more spin than a government advisor, then pressuring Sharapova into a couple of mistakes. Good contest, this.

There's a car in the back-right corner of the court, a red one that belongs to the sponsors. On a raised platform, it looks like it could drive off into the sky and through the roof of the arena at any moment. Vinci under pressure again, Sharapova gobbling up any sort of room to hit. Break point...

The Sharapova serve certainly looks the more bankable at the moment. More spice, extra bite, harder to return from whence it came. The bounce of the ball is deliberate, the toss elegant, the delivery mighty. Vinci, much shorter than her opponent, is something of a punchbag in this game.

I'm starting to fear for the Vinci serve. Sharapova is getting a decent look at it, swinging for the fences, but the radar is still not quite right. The Italian scrapes through this one, but the warning signs are there. She has, however, taken three games in a set off Sharapova for the first time.

It's almost as if the crowd aren't quite sure who to get behind. If anything, there's no strong applause for either please. Reverential rather than raucous. Vince is pressured at 30-30, Sharapova keeping the heat on with a formidable forehand to take us to 40-40...

Conrad Edkins, Halifax.

Sharapova is sporting a peachy coloured top that almost merges with the dusky red of the clay. She is also wearing a visor indoors. You have to be cool, successful or oblivious to pull off indoor headwear. This is more like a move into the stride, a hold to 15 featuring some bullet backhands.

Declan Grant, Kingswood

This a harsh lesson for the Italian, like a fast bowler learning not to bowl wide to Brian Lara. Don't give Sharapova the space to free her arms. The back hand is in good order and the forehand will do damage if it lands in the right place. Sharapova wins her first game in a year and three months.