New York - Playing in her first Grand Slam after a 15-month doping ban and limited to just one hardcourt warm-up match, Maria Sharapova conceded she had no right to gain come away with a first-round win over second seed Simona Halep at the US Open on Monday. However, the 30-year-old Russian Russia belied her own self-doubt with an impressive three-set win over the Romanian to thrust the former world number one No1 back into the spotlight as the toast of the Big Apple. "Not playing a lot of matches coming into this, it almost seemed like I had no right to win this match today," the 2006 US Open champion said. told reporters after her 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory. "And I somehow did and I’m proud of that." It had been three years since Sharapova last appeared at Flushing Meadows and by the end of Monday’s three-hour thriller, both the sellout crowd and the five-time Grand Slam winner were aware of just how much they had missed each other. When Halep’s return sailed long to give Sharapova the ...
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