The Russian was dumped out of the grass-court grand slam last year in the second round by Michelle Larcher de Brito, and her form at the tournament has only seen her get past the fourth round once in the previous seven stagings.
However, the fifth seed is currently on a 10-game winning streak having won the French Open last month, has yet to drop a set at Wimbledon this year and has only lost seven games in her opening three matches.
Three of those came on Saturday against Alison Riske, but the American was unable to cope with her ruthless opponent and Sharapova completed a 6-3 6-0 win in just 70 minutes.
The 27-year-old - champion at the All England Club in 2004 - revealed her poor form on grass in recent years was driving her on in 2014, and she was pleased with her comprehensive victory.
"I am just happy to be in the second week after last year's result so I couldn't wait to come back and give myself a chance to see what I can do," she told BBC Sport.
"I felt better as the match went on. Alison is a great great grass-court player so I knew it was going to be tough, but I got there."
Sharapova will now face the winner of Angelique Kerber and Kirsten Flipkens in the next round when they have completed their rain-delayed match.
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