CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Top-seeded Caroline Garcia of France defeated Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-2, 6-3 in her first match at the WTA’s Volvo Car Open on Tuesday.
Garcia broke Lepchenko three times in the opening set to take control in her first clay-court match of the season.
No. 3 seeded Daria Kasatkina needed three sets before beating Christina McHale of the United States 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Other seeded players winning at the Daniel Island Tennis Center were No. 9 Ashleigh Barty of Australia, No. 13 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Barty topped American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-2, Begu defeated Georgina Garcia Perez of Spain 6-3, 6-4 and Vesnina defeated American Madison Brengle 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Kristie Ahn of the United States defeated past champion and former U.S. Open winner Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 6-4.
Garcia said she worked hard after the Miami Open to prepare for the clay-court event and was happy with her performance against Lapchenko.
“But as we have French Open, like of course we like this season,” Garcia said. “But I don’t know if I’m a clay court person or not.  I just enjoy it as much as I enjoy hard court.”
Garcia, ranked seventh in the world, had a breakout season in 2017 with titles in consecutive weeks in China at Wuhan and Beijing.