Russian starlet Maria Sharapova has made her long-awaited debut on Twitter at the Australian Open -- with a veiled plug for her new range of sweets.

The four-time Grand Slam-winner, who recently released her "Sugarpova" line, tweeted from Melbourne: "Your ultimate sugarmama has arrived," with a photo of her pretending to blow bubbles.

Sharapova's belated entry on Twitter, much used by fellow stars such as Serena Williams, has been well received with nearly 45,000 followers already getting the solitary tweet.

Her new product range is not to everyone's taste, with child psychologists saying she should be promoting a healthy lifestyle rather than sugary foods.

Britain's Andy Murray has also been a hit on social media at the Australian Open, with a spoof movie poster of him posing as "Crocodile Dunblane", a take-off of Australian hit "Crocodile Dundee", doing the rounds on Twitter.

Your ultimate sugarmama has arrived #myfirsttweet twitter.com/MariaSharapova…

— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 14, 2013