MARIA Sharapova has confirmed the Brisbane International as her comeback WTA tournament, giving the Queensland Tennis Centre tournament a third Australian Open winner in their women's field.

Sharapova's website has published her schedule for the first six months of 2014 and named Brisbane from December 29 to January 5 as her only tournament before the Australian Open.

The Courier-Mail published on October 16 that Sharapova had said in a question and answer session with fans on her Twitter feed that she would start her Australian Open campaign in Brisbane.

The entries for the Brisbane International will be announced as early as Tuesday, with the commitment of the two top-ranked female players, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka, already confirmed.

Queensland tennis fans will hope Sharapova, the world No.4, will play her first tournament in the state at her fourth attempt.

Sharapova has entered one Gold Coast tournament and two Brisbane Internationals in her career only to pull out with injuries and her withdrawal shorly before her scheduled first match at Tennyson last January due to collarbone soreness was the closest she has come to playing in Queensland.

Sharapova has not played since August due to an injured right shoulder.

But 2013 was the seventh year that the Russian, the highest earning women's athlete in the world, had finished a season ranked in the top five.