NEW YORK – Maria Sharapova was right where she likes to be: on the Grand Slam stage and in the spotlight.

After missing last year’s U.S. Open with a shoulder injury, the 2006 champion returned to the tournament Tuesday night with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova.

Sharapova’s game was as glittery as her black-and-silver dress and matching headwrap, an outfit she described as a tribute to New York’s skyline.

Several hours after Dinara Safina came perilously close to becoming the first No. 1-seeded woman to lose in this major tournament’s first round, Sharapova gave a much stronger performance.

The three-time Grand Slam title winner produced 29 winners – a whopping 23 more than her 98th-ranked opponent. And Sharapova’s game was particularly clean in the second set, when she hit 16 winners and only five unforced errors.

Apart from four double-faults, Sharapova showed no signs of the shoulder tear that forced her to have surgery in October and kept off the tour for nearly 10 months.

“This is a Grand Slam. You’ve got to get going from the first match,” Sharapova said.

Safina certainly could have used that kind of determination.

Nearly undone by her own poor play, Safina was a point away from a 4-0 deficit in the third set before coming back to beat 167th-ranked Olivia Rogowska, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4.

Safina, younger sister of 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, had 48 unforced errors in all. And she didn’t merely miss. She missed rather badly.

“I was surprised that, you know, she was giving me free points,” said Rogowska, an 18-year-old who never has defeated anyone ranked better than 47th.

Even though Safina won, her showing counted as the biggest news on a Day 2 when things mainly went to form.

Winners included 2004 U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, past runners-up Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic, No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 13 Nadia Petrova.

Men’s winners included 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and that tournament’s runner-up, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, along with No. 10 Fernando Verdasco, No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 16 Marin Cilic, No. 17 Tomas Berdych and No. 22 Sam Querrey.