Maria Sharapova of Russia defeated American Venus Williams 6-3 6-4 to win the exhibition tennis match organized in Thailand to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Hua Hin, a beach resort city, on Saturday.  

Both the players struggled to adapt to the local conditions and committed too many errors.

The Russian broke Venus three times to clinch the first set and earned the lone break in the final game of the second set to seal the victory after 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.

"It's good to be back. I'm glad to play against Venus in my first match of the year,'' said Sharapova, who registered her first win over the American since 2007. "I still remember when I first came here in 2005 . I was young and had a great match with Venus"

Venus agreed that she was outplayed by Sharapova in the match "Maria played so well. I was slow in my first match of the season. It's good to be here hitting the ball."