Tuesday, 8 April, 2008

Ninth seed Sybille Bammer and former champion Amelie Mauresmo eased into the second round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships on Monday after recording straight sets first round wins.

Mauresmo, the 11th seed, beat qualifier Olga Savchuk 6-0 7-5, while Bammer battled past past wildcard Anna Orlik 6-3 7-6 (7/2).

Bammer seemed destined for a routine win as she built a 6-3 4-1 lead, but Orlik - playing in her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour main draw - rallied briefly before the Austrian came through in 88 minutes.

Mauresmo, the 2001 champion and 2004 finalist, also won the first set easily but was forced to rally to win the second set after Savchuk took a 3-0 and also had double set points serving at 5-4.

Top seed Maria Sharapova will face Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the second round after the Czech qualifier posted a 6-2 6-4 win over Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.

Sharapova, who along with the other top eighth seeds received first round byes, did not play in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami due to a right shoulder injury.

The Russian world number five is seeking to reach her first claycourt final on the green clay in Florida, a surface she has only played once when the three-time Grand Slam champion suffered a first round at Charleston in 2003.

Virginie Razzano of France, the 13th seed, dispatched Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine 6-2 6-1, while Anabel Medina Garrigues, the 15th seeded of Spaniard, ousted Argentina's Maria Emilia Salerni 6-4 6-3.

Elsewhere in first round action on Monday, Lucie Safarova beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-3, American Jill Craybas recorded a 7-6 (7/1) 7-6 (7/4) victory against Akgul Amanmuradova, Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita dispatched Nathalie Dechy 6-4 6-3, while Olga Govortsova, Alize Cornet, Marta Domachowska, Melinda Czink and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova also advanced.

Finally, in the only match on the opening day to go to three sets, Ekaterina Makarova posted a 6-2 2-6 7-5 win over Aravane Rezai, while Tatiani Perebiynis rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the second set to beat China's Pen Shuai 6-4 7-5.

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