World No. 9 Maria Sharapova is still searching for her first title in the new season and now she will battle it out on the red-soil in Madrid. Well, in the opening round of the 2011 Madrid Open, Sharapova will face qualifier Arantxa Rus of Netherlands, who is ranked 99 in the world.

So far, it has been a good season for the former World No. 1 Russian. She started off well by reaching the quarterfinal at Auckland, but failed to progress beyond the fourth round of the Aussie Open. Sharapova reached the semi-final at Indian Wells and also finished as runner-up in Miami, where she lost to crrent World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. Sharapova has a commendable 14-5 win-loss record this year.

The biggest challenge for the Russian would be to adapt to the clay, as she does not carry an illustrious record – particularly on red-soil. Well, Sharapova’s opponent is Arantxa Rus, who reached the second-round at Australian Open, but failed to qualify for any WTA event since then before she secured her berth in the last 64 in the Madrid Open.

Obviously, Sharapova is crushing favourite in this match and she should finish it easily in two sets.