Maria Sharapova of Russia waves to the crowd after defeating Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria following their match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 1, 2009.After missing last year's U.S. Open with a shoulder injury, former champion Sharapova returned to the spotlight with an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova. [Xinhua/Zhang Yan]