Charleston, April 15:

Australian Open champ Maria Sharapova, who is fresh off a win at the Bausch and Lomb Championships, is seeking to add her second-straight title on clay at the Family Circle Cup.

Sharapova is the second seed at the $1.34 million WTA clay court event which kicked off on Monday. Despite already claiming three Grand Slam titles before turning 21, Sharapova had been unable to break through on clay until on Sunday, when she topped Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets at the Bausch and Lomb Championships.

Sharapova will begin play later in the week against the winner of Tuesday’s matchup between American wild card Bethanie Mattek and Meng Yuan of China. The 20-year-old Russian had been 0-3 in her three previous finals on clay. Sharapova has appeared here just once, losing in the first round in 2003 as a 15-year-old.

Now Sharapova is back as one of the top favourites, along with top seed and defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. In all, the top eight players in the draw received a first-round bye. That includes fifth seed Serena Williams, a finalist here in 2003.

One of four seeded players in action on Monday, ninth seed Vera Zvonareva cruised with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Chia-Jung Chuang of Taipei. The Russian next will face the winner between Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual and countrywoman Olga Puchkova.

No 10 Agnes Szavay of Hungary started fast against Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine before posting a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) decision. She will square off in the second round with Ai Sugiyama, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over fellow Japanese player Ayumi Morita.

Estoril Open

OEIRAS: Fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France defeated Croatia’s Roko Karanusic 7-5 7-5 on Monday to advance to the second round of the clay-court Estoril Open. In other first-round games, seventh-seeded Marc Gicquel ousted Boris Pashanski 6-4, 6-3 and Teimuraz Gabashvili edged Florian Mayer 7-5, 7-5.

Local favourite Fernando Gil also advanced with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, while Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic overcame Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-5, 6-1.

In the women’s event, third-seeded Karin Knapp of Italy beat local Frederica Piedade 6-3, 6-0, and sixth-seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova knocked out Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 3-6, 6-1. Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova routed Canada’s Stephanie Dubois 6-0, 6-1, and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden overcame Lilia Osterloh of the US 7-5, 6-4.