Defending champion Marion Bartoli cruised into the second round in Stanford with a commanding 6-1 6-4 success against Ashley Harkleroad.
Frenchwoman powers into round two in Stanford
Defending champion Marion Bartoli cruised into the second round in Stanford with a commanding 6-1 6-4 success against Ashley Harkleroad.
The Bank of West Classic champion was one of five seeds to progress from the first round, as the Frenchwoman secured a first victory against her opponent in the last three meetings.
Their match on Tuesday was their first in six years though, but fourth seed Bartoli was still happy to have moved into the next round.
"She played really well, especially in the second set," Bartoli said. "For someone who hasn't played that much lately, she was giving me a hard time out there."
World number 14 Bartoli will now face struggling former world number one Ana Ivanovic in the second round.
Serves
It was just the second match in two years on the WTA Tour for Harkleroad, and she struggled to handle the serve of Bartoli, especially as she was successful on 81 percent of her first serve points.
In the night match, Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova made a successful comeback on hardcourts, as she gained revenge on China's Zheng Jie with a 6-4 7-5 victory.
Sharapova was beaten by Zheng the last time she played on the same surface at the Indian Wells tournament in California four months ago.
World number 15 Sharapova missed six weeks of the season in the spring with a right elbow injury, but is finding top form again with 15 wins from her last 18 matches.
In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel beat Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in three sets, while seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer beat Chan Yung-Jan 6-3 6-4.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who is seeded eighth, beat Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-0 6-2, while American Jill Craybas came unstuck against Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk.
