2015 Maria Sharapova tennis season  The 2015 Maria Sharapova tennis season officially began on 4 January 2015 with the start of the 2015 WTA Tour. Sharapova entered the season ranked as world number 2 behind Serena Williams following the completion of the 2014 season. For the second consecutive year, Sharapova began her season at the Brisbane International, a Premier level tournament on the WTA Tour. As the top seed, Sharapova was given a bye in the first round. Her first match of the 2015 season came against qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova, with Sharapova winning the first nine games on her way to an easy victory. Sharapova's quarterfinal match pitted her against number one Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro, with the Russian winning comfortably in straight sets. She then repeated her quarterfinal scoreline in her semifinal match, beating Elina Svitolina to advance to her first final of 2015. In the final, Sharapova faced world number 7 and second seed Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova took an early break, but failed to convert two set points and eventually lost the tie-break to Ivanovic. She then rebounded to claim the second and third sets to claim her 34th WTA Tour title, and first in Brisbane. Sharapova's next tournament was the first major of the year, the Australian Open. She was seeded second in the draw, defending fourth round points after losing in 2014 to Dominika Cibulková. In the first round, Sharapova drew Croatian qualifier Petra Martić and won in straight sets. In the second round, Sharapova beat qualifier and fellow countrywoman Alexandra Panova in three sets, despite being down two breaks and saving two match points in the final set. Following her close call with elimination, Sharapova rebounded to win her next two matches in straight sets over Zarina Diyas and Peng Shuai. In the quarterfinals, Sharapova continued her strong form by seeing off world No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard in two sets. Playing in her third Australian Open semifinal in four years, Sharapova made short work of her compatriot and 10th seed Ekaterina Makarova, setting up a final with world number one Serena Williams. The final was a tight contest between the top 2 players in the world, but Sharapova failed to recover from being broken in the opening game, and lost the first set. Sharapova stepped up her play in the second set, and saved two match points to force a tie-break, but in the end, Williams closed the match with an ace, sealing a two set victory.