US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, who received a first-round bye with other top three seeds, also overcame a slow start to beat Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1 for a place in the quarter-finals.
"We don't play on this surface so much in a year, so I think it takes time to be able to perform your best when you have such a short period of time. It's difficult," said Sharapova, second seed here.
"But it definitely suits my game, because the bounces are low and you can get a lot of advantage from the serve. But I just need a little bit more time to prepare after the Australian Open where you are coming off the Rebound Ace. It's totally an opposite surface."
Vento-Kabchi, ranked 50th against Sharapova's fourth, used her accurate placement to counter-attack the Russian, who tried to finish a point by hitting her signature hard-hit winners from the baseline.
But Vento-Kabchi hit too many double faults to lose the second and sixth games, allowing Sharapova to get into her rhythm afterwards.
Sharapova misfired her shots on her first set point in the 10th and another two in the 12th, but made no errors in the tie-breaker, choking up a 6-3 lead to finish with a forehand service return winner.
Everything went perfect in the second set with Sharapova hitting better serves and returns, and completing her three service games with an ace for a total of eighth - five of them in the second set.
"I've only played on this surface for the last two days, so I don't think I had the best possible preparation I could have had. Your opponent has already played (a match) on the surface and has a good feeling for it," said Sharapova.
"In the first set, I made too many errors than I should have, but she (Vento-Kabchi) played a solid game, so I just picked up my level in the second set," the Russian said.
RESULTS (x denotes seeds):
SINGLES (1st Round}: Aiko Nakamura (JPN) bt Ryoko Fuda (JPN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; Akiko Morigami (JPN) bt Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (SPA) 6-4, 6-1 Jill Craybas (USA) bt Tatiana Panova (RUS) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
(2nd Round): Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (VEN) 7-6 (7/3), 6-0; Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x3) bt Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian (SWI) 6-3, 6-1.