( CNN ) -- Maria Sharapova made a successful return to the WTA Tour on Monday -- and her boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov also won his opening match of the new season at the same Brisbane International tournament . Sharapova , on her first appearance at the Australian Open warmup event , brushed aside France 's Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-0 in 63 minutes as she showed no signs of her recent shoulder problems . It was the Russian 's first WTA outing since losing in the first round in Cincinnati in August -- after which she parted with coach Jimmy Connors after just one match together . The world No . 4 is now working with Sven Groeneveld , former mentor of Monica Seles and Mary Pierce , as she seeks to add to her 2008 Australian Open success this month . `` I think I was just really determined to get back on the court , '' Sharapova told reporters . `` It 's been a while . I think the whole team was really ready to go out . `` I knew I was going to play Monday night a little bit ago already . I got goosebumps when I heard because I was looking forward to today even a week ago . `` It 's those days you work for . It was a big step to come and a big step to play out there tonight . '' The 26-year-old , who pulled out of last year 's Brisbane event with shoulder problems , will next face Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty . `` She is another future star and someone that I 've seen grow up from the juniors and now onto the tour , '' Sharapova said of the 190th-ranked 17-year-old , who beat veteran Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova . Barty 's compatriot Casey Dellacqua will also be up against a big name in round two , having set up a clash with world No . 2 Victoria Azarenka by beating 67th-ranked Russian Galina Voskoboeva in three sets . Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic battled past former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-2 7-6 ( 8-6 ) , while German No . 5 Angelique Kerber , Spanish No . 8 Carla Suarez Navarro and Slovakian No . 9 Dominika Cibulkova also progressed . Dimitrov also changed coach late last season to Roger Rasheed , who has worked with Lleyton Hewitt and Gael Monfils , and they continued their strong start together as the 22-year-old beat Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2 6-3 . The Bulgarian , runner-up in Brisbane last season and who won his first ATP Tour title in Stockholm in October , will next play former world No . 9 Marin Cilic . Top seed Roger Federer 's first opponent in Brisbane will be Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen , who beat 21-year-old Australian wildcard James Duckworth . Meanwhile , Tomas Berdych 's Australian Open preparations were hit Monday when the world No . 7 lost to big-serving Croation Ivo Karlovic in the opening round of the Qatar Open . Karlovic fired 24 aces against the Czech in a 7-6 ( 9-7 ) 7-6 ( 7-4 ) victory in Doha , while two-time runner-up Monfils of France and Poland 's Lukasz Kubot also progressed .
World No . 4 Grigor Dimitrov wins her first WTA Tour match in Monday . Russian returns to action in Brisbane International Monday following absence due to injury . The 4 -time grand slam winner wins first -round match in just over an hour . Grigor Dimitrov , almost five months Brisbane men 's runner-up , wins his opening match .