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Maria Sharapova produced a far from convincing performance in reaching the third round of the dfs Classic at Edgbaston.
The two-time defending champion, playing in her first competitive game on grass since losing to Venus Williams in a Wimbledon semi-final last year, beat American qualifier Ahsha Rolle 6-4 6-2.
While the scoreline may appear comfortable, Sharapova struggled to find her rhythm against a player ranked 139 places below her.
An early rain delay lasting 80 minutes, with Sharapova leading 3-2 after breaking Rolle in the third game, hardly helped matters.
Upon the resumption, the chilly weather played its part, with the 19-year-old world number four unable to warm to her task.
Sharapova managed to close out the first set at 6-4, and then broke again in the first game of the second, only for Rolle to hit back immediately courtesy of a double fault and stray shot into the net.
Rolle, though, failed to capitalise and was immediately broken to love in the next game due to several unforced errors and a double fault of her own.
Sharapova then captured the next four games for a 5-1 lead, with an occasional sprinkling of magic along the way, and with her opponent clearly troubled by an injury to her right knee that was heavily strapped.
Rolle briefly resisted in the seventh game, but Sharapova duly wrapped up the win to 30 in the following game, with Rolle nudging a backhand into the net.
Sharapova at least paved the way for a raft of seeds to follow her into the last 16, chief among those being number five Ai Sugiyama of Japan sweeping aside Jamila Gajdosova of Slovakia 6-2 6-3.
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