London: Maria Sharapova had to face some tough time on the court against her French opponent Kristina Mladenovic in the first round of Wimbledon here on Monday. The Russian beauty was grilled by her counterpart before she finally managed to win the match 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to move into the next round.

Sharapova faced some tough competition from her opponent who was matching her quite comfortably both in her serves and groundstrokes. The French number three had the set's only break point going into the tie-break. Sharapova held serve to give herself the set point.

However, Sharapova got her rhythm back in the second set eventually breezed through 6-3 to seal the victory.

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka thrashed her Portuguese opponent, Maria Joao Koehler 6-1, 6-2 to cruise into the second round. She faced a very tough time when she slipped during her serve in the second set. It took her sometime to find her rhythm as her right knee was heavily strapped but she managed to register a thumping victory at the end.

Azarenka was leading 6-1, 1-0 on Court One when she slipped while trying to move into position after serving. After receiving some medical treatment from the doctor during a medical time out, she was back on court. Azarenka was moving cautiously because of which she served three double faults to hand a break point back to Koehler. But she finally managed to overcome that pain to win the match. She will now face the Italy's Flavia Pennetta in her match of second round.