Maria Sharapova, who came from nowhere to land the Wimbledon crown last year, is in no mood to relinquish her title.
Still only 18, the Florida-based Siberian breezed into the last 16 of the DFS Classic in Birmingham, the grass-court tournament which launched her amazing career 12 months ago, and warned the best is yet to come.
"I learned from last year," she said. "I gained so much experience and improved a lot of things.
"I'm going to the net more and volleying more, I feel a lot more confident in that. Last year maybe I was more one-dimensional.
"I still don't go to the net as much as I want to. I know it's more of a mental thing because I can do it."
The Wimbledon champion made a confident start to the defence of her Edgbaston title, beating the unseeded Anne Kremer 6-3 6-0 in her first singles match on grass since her glorious triumph at the All England Club last July.
Her next opponent - qualifier Evie Dominikovic or 16th seed Samantha Stosur - is unlikely to halt her march to Sunday's final but Sharapova admits she is starting to feel the pressure.
"Of course when you come into these kind of tournaments, you are always expected to win because you are number two in the world," she said.
"People expect the best from you all the time and that's difficult because it's simply impossible to keep at your best."
With Sharapova having a day off today, most eyes were on Moscow-born Tatiana Golovin, last year's beaten finalist from France who meets South African Natalie Grandin, one of six qualifiers in the last 32.
Second seed Alicia Molik of Australia plays her first match against American Laura Granville, who ended the hopes of former British number one Anne Keothavong who is still making her way back to full fitness after an eight-month lay-off.
