MELBOURNE: Maria Sharapova Wednesday said she expects to be playing for years to come in her quest for Grand Slam glory after sweeping past Aliaksandra Sasnovich and into the Australian Open third round.

The on-song Russian, 28, shook off any early-season rust in the opening round and continued her impressive form against Sasnovich, crushing the 105th-ranked Belarusian 6-2, 6-1 with the roof shut on Rod Laver Arena as rain came down.

A winner here in 2008 and a three-time runner-up, she was always heavily favoured, although the departure of second seed Simona Halep to a qualifier on Tuesday showed there are no guarantees.

The win keeps the five-time Grand Slam champion on track for a potential last-eight clash against her nemesis Serena Williams, who beat her in the final last year and has won all their matches since 2004.

“It's great to be back on this court after such a good run [to the final] last year,” said Sharapova. “It was an opponent I had never faced before which is always tricky and I'm happy I got there.”

Sharapova, the world's highest earning female athlete last year, according to Forbes, has been a fixture on the tour since 2002 and she still loves what she does.

Despite now being a major force in the business world with a series of successful ventures, any talk of retirement is dismissed with her focus still firmly on winning.

“When I was a late teenager, I probably didn't think that I'd be playing in my late 20s. Here I am at 28, and feeling like I still have many more years ahead of me,” she said.

“I think your perspective changes; the game also develops and it becomes — I don't know, you just have a different attitude about it.”

‘Little bit unpredictable’

In her 13th appearance at Melbourne Park, the fifth seed was in the zone from her first service game against Sasnovich, which she comfortably held before a forehand long from her opponent handed the Russian the first break of the day.

She raced to a 4-0 lead with the Belarusian, playing her first Australian Open, struggling to counter her powerful groundstrokes.

But as Sharapova served for 5-0, Sasnovich started finding her range in returning serve and a misjudged forehand from the Russian allowed her back into the set at 1-4.

It was only a temporary reprieve with Sharapova chiding herself and bouncing back to break again but the feisty Sasnovich, a largely unknown quantity, refused to go away.

Sharapova double-faulted on set point as the nerves jangled and her 21-year-old opponent made the most of it with some quality baseline rallies helping her pull back another game.

But her service game again let her down and Sharapova capitalised to secure the set in 38 minutes.

Ultimately, the Russian's big-match experience paid off and she raced to victory as Sasnovich's confidence waned and errors crept in.

“Somebody again I haven't faced before, which is quite rare, but, I felt like her game was a little bit unpredictable,” said Sharapova.

“I had to make some adjustments. She came up with a few good shots and a few errors, some great big first serves and some shorter ones. So I think for me it was really about adjusting today.”

She next plays American Lauren Davis with her early trouble-free performances a confidence boost after her late 2015 season was wrecked by injuries.