Amelia Island, April 9:

Top seed Maria Sharapova, returning from a two-week fatigue break, beat Czech qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova at the $600,000 Bausch and Lomb Championship here on Tuesday.

Australian Open champion Sharapova defeated Strycova 6-1, 6-3 in her first match at the clay court venue after having sat out the Miami event for the past two weeks. The 20-year-old Russian beauty had not played since suffering her first loss of the year in an Indian Wells semi-final against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Fourth seed Marion Bartoli of France suffered her eighth loss in 10 matches, falling to Olga Govortsova of Belarus 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Govortsova, ranked 43rd, dropped the first set but rallied to upset Bartoli, who reached a career-best ninth in the WTA rankings in October but has fallen to 11th with only two wins since. Govortsova booked a third-round match against Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Medina Garrigues outlasted Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while France’s Virginie Razzano defeated Poland’s Marta Domachowska 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4) in other second-round matches.

Hungarian eighth seed Agnes Szavay reached the third round by dispatching Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1. Lindsay Davenport reached the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow American Vania King.

Davenport, 31, is 30-5 at Amelia Island with titles in 1997, 2004 and 2005. She next faces compatriot Jill Craybas and could meet Slovakian third seed Daniela Hantuchova in the third round.