The 62nd-ranked Sharapova, working her way back from right shoulder surgery, avoided losing her first match in a tournament since Oct. 8, 2007, in Moscow to Victoria Azarenka. She has not lost a first round match since Aug. 11, 2003 to Elena Likhovtseva in Toronto.
Sharapova recovered from a 4-0 deficit in the first set, but then allowed a 5-2 lead in the second set to get away before dominating the third set.
"I had a pretty slow start and made a good effort to get back in the first set," Sharapova said. "I thought it was a good second set and I had a chance to close out the match, but unfortunately it didn't happen. In the third set I didn't do too many things wrong. I really stepped it up and was steady."
Sugiyama and Sharapova were scheduled to meet in Montreal last July before the former world No. 1 withdrew with her injury and sat out the next nine months.
"She stepped up and was more aggressive," Sugiyama said. "I was fighting every single point. In the third set, my knee started to hurt a little bit and I couldn't move as well as I did the first two sets. My energy went down and that's a shame."
Sharapova has won 12 of her 16 matches this year, and is 44-8 since the beginning of 2008.
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