Maria Sharapova vs. Alexandra Panova: Score, Reaction from 2015 Australian Open

Maria Sharapova cruised through an opening round full of upsets at the 2015 Australian Open, yet needed an epic comeback to knock off Alexandra Panova in the second round, winning 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary when the first set flew by Melbourne Park, as ESPN Tennis astutely observed:

"

Maria Sharapova is wasting no time under the sun today! The former #AusOpen champion breaks Panova to take 1st set 61 in less than 30 min.

— ESPNTennis (@ESPNTennis) January 21, 2015"

But the second-seeded Sharapova faced a series of setbacks thereafter, most notably two match points when she had already rallied from 4-1 down in the final set:

After the match, Sharapova expressed relief that she had done enough to advance:

SI Tennis added more from Sharapova, who credited the 150th-ranked Panova for the fight she displayed:

Jonathan Scott of Tennis.com noted how rare it would have been for Sharapova to be bounced out of the tournament:

Just as she wound up doing in the final set, Sharapova dropped a break in the first game of the second, double faulting at 30-40. TennisNow's Erik Gudris felt an inevitable Sharapova triumph was on the horizon at that juncture of the match:

Things didn't play out quite so simply. Just as Sharapova has done in the past to so many foes, it was Panova who put her foot on the gas late to surge to the finish for a landmark victory in her career.

Beyond those early second-set hiccups, the serve that has often been Sharapova's kryptonite left her vulnerable again, when she gifted her Russian compatriot another double fault to slip behind 5-2 in the second.

Dawn Rhodes of the Chicago Tribune's description of Sharapova's game foreshadowed what would ultimately transpire:

A prompt break back put Sharapova back on the serve with an opportunity to extend the set against her aggressive adversary.

Undaunted by the blown chance to finish Sharapova in the prior game, Panova had three set points. However, she was long on a second-serve return at 40-15 and saw Sharapova smash two forehand winners down the line thereafter to hang on for the time being.

Panova was pushed to deuce on serve at 5-4 before finally holding to force a third set, much to the surprise of everyone bearing witness to the highly entertaining, competitive showcase.

The second-set numbers weren't pretty for Sharapova. They featured 23 of her 51 total unforced errors to just 12 winners, not to mention four double faults.

Chris Skelton of Tennis View Magazine brought up a relevant point to suggest Sharapova wouldn't fall in the end:

WTATennis.com's Kevin Fischer added further assurance for those sweating a Sharapova upset:

Those numbers that are a testament to Sharapova's will to win wound up forecasting the tight, albeit expected bottom-line outcome.

Panova has career victories versus WTA top-50 players, so it wasn't as though she was a pushover to begin with. She hit numerous winners with serious power on her groundstrokes and made Sharapova work extremely hard after putting up little resistance early, outclassing Sharapova on serves in particular.

Prior to the second round, Sharapova expressed optimism in her game after winning the WTA Brisbane International final over Ana Ivanovic, per AusOpen.com's Michael Beattie:

"

I'm in a much more comfortable situation than I was last year. My goal last year at this time was just to play as many matches as I could to get a good feeling to see where my shoulder was, where I was physically, how I would cope with playing a lot of matches. It was definitely great to get a title in last week. I don't think I've done that in my career, winning a title to begin the year. That was nice. But when you come here, everything is new and fresh – of course, it's a nice feeling to have that victory, but you have to start from scratch.

"

The opportunity is ripe for Sharapova to go deep in Melbourne thanks to the early exits by several seeded players. If she qualifies for the Australian Open final, Sharapova had a shot to overtake Serena Williams as the top-ranked player in the world.

It's important for Sharapova to play a little sharper moving forward, though. As Tuesday's match demonstrated, no one is an easy out in major tennis competition. Next up for Sharapova will be either No. 31 seed Zarina Diyas or wild-card Anna Schmiedlova.

Based on the form she is showing right now, although it's still early, Sharapova has some tweaking to do to ensure that she starts the 2015 Grand Slam season with a bang.

Note: Stats courtesy of AusOpen.com.