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.
Defending champion Daria Kasatkina needed three sets before beating Christina McHale of the United States 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The Russian is the only past champion left in the field after Andrea Petkovic and Sam Stosur lost earlier Tuesday.
People were interested in these podcasts
Other seeded players winning were No. 9 Ashleigh Barty of Australia, No. 13 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and No. 16 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 Stosur, who won the 2011 U.S. Open title, 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 No. 7, had a breakout season in 2017 with titles in consecutive weeks in China at Wuhan and Beijing.
In other matches, Taylor Townsend of the U.S. beat Heather Watson of Britain 6-3, 6-4. American Kristie Ahn stopped Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 and Sara Errani of Italy defeated Eugenie Bouchard of Canada 6-4, 6-4.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.