Former champion Amelie Mauresmo got off to a successful start at the Bausch and Lomb Championship, defeating Olga Savchuk 6-0, 7-5 in the opening round.

Mauresmo, of France, rallied in the second set surviving two set points before putting Savchuk away in the 12th game.

The tournament marks the return of Maria Sharapova who did not play in the WTA Tour's previous event - the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

The Russian star skipped the event with a right shoulder injury and is making her inaugural appearance here.

This Tier II event begins the two-week American claycourt swing and offers a first prize of 95,500 dollars. It concludes next week with the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

Sharapova began the year by winning 18 straight matches, capturing titles at the Australian Open and Doha before losing to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-finals at Indian Wells.

However, Sharapova never has made a claycourt final, only reaching three semi-finals. In her only previous appearance on the green clay - the surface here - she fell in the first round at Charleston in 2003.

In her first match here, Sharapova will meet qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, who advanced Monday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky. The top eight seeds have first-round byes.

Sharapova's main competition could come from No. 2 seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia and No. 3 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

The other top seeds in the tournament are Marion Bartoli of France, Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, Russia's Dinara Safina, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and Hungary's Agnes Szavay.

Only two former winners are entered - Mauresmo and American Lindsay Davenport, who are seeded 11th and 16th, respectively.

Mauresmo, who has fallen out of the top 20, won here in 2001 and reached the final again in 2004.

AFP