Sharapova on the ball with boys

After personally casting the squad of male model ball-boys, Maria Sharapova had a special interest in them and she was finally able to see her selections in action last night as she started the women's season-ending event, the Sony Ericsson Championships, with victory over Elena Dementieva.

With her screaming groundstrokes, Sharapova had too much for Dementieva and she won the all-Russian encounter 6-1, 6-4 in the Red Group. The Siberian also seemed reasonably satisfied with how the ball boys had kept her supplied during her service games and fetched her a towel and a drink when she needed them.

"They were a little rusty, but it was their first match and they're new to this," said Sharapova, who enjoyed being mistress of the ball-boy beauty parade.

Whenever Dementieva looked as though she had some momentum – such as when she broke back when Sharapova was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set – her serve failed her again.

Her delivery has always been fallible, with a slow and vulnerable second serve, but yesterday evening she was suffering from a spate of foot-faults. It was not always easy viewing for Dementieva's supporters at the Casa de Campo.