Maria Sharapova completes injury return as Russian sweats on US Open wildcard

MARIA SHARAPOVA is back in action after more than two months out with injury, winning two sets in a World TeamTennis match last night.

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Maria Sharapova appeared to have no injury problems during her brief return to court

Sharapova has not played since retiring from her match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in Rome on May 16.

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The Russian was forced to miss Wimbledon with the muscle injury but now appears to have regained full fitness.

The 30-year-old, who only returned from a doping ban in April, will now be hoping she is given a wildcard entry to next month's US Open, having demonstrated her fitness.

The five-time Grand Slam champion played for the Orange County Breakers last night in a 22-19 win over the San Diego Aviaters, teaming up with Andreja Klepac to beat Darija Jurak and Shelby Rogers in her first set before switching to singles and beating Rogers one-on-one.

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Sharapova is still on the comeback trail from a lengthy absence - she was handed a two-year ban from tennis for failing a drug test during the 2016 Australian Open.

She tested positive for meldonium, a heart disease medication that had only recently been added to the banned list.

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However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the suspension to 15 months after ruling that Sharapova was "an athlete who cheated" and had not "tried to use a performance-enhancing substance".

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Maria Sharapova retired with an injury in Rome back in May

When she did make her comeback in April, it was thanks to a wildcard entry to the Porsche Grand Prix - the luxury car company are one of her sponsors.

And having lost so many ranking points, Sharapova remains No173 in the world.

It means she will not automatically qualify for the US Open, which starts on August 28, and will need tournament organisers to give her a free pass into the main draw.

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French Open organisers chose not to do so earlier this year and a number of high-profile tennis pundits have called on Flushing Meadows chiefs to do the same.

"Regular tournament can give her a wildcard if they want to, the Grand Slams are a different status though, so I don’t think so," said six-time US Open champion Chris Evert this week.

"I just think that if she enters qualifying she will get through the qualifying."

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