Clijsters Keeps Ball Rolling in Miami

Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters won her opening match in convincing fashion Thursday at the WTA stop in Miami, bludgeoning German qualifier Sandra Kloesel 6-0, 6-1.

"It wasn't easy out there because conditions were very different to last week, so I'm very happy to have a short match," said Clijsters, who says she is still not at the top of her game. "I tried to stay positive when I was injured and kept my body fit. Today the score was easy but I still feel that there is work to do."

It was a good day for unseeded Russians, with three moving into the second round in Evgenia Linetskaya (d. Sucha), Maria Kirilenko (d. countrywoman Chakvetadze), and qualifier Galina Voskoboeva (d. (WC) Uberoi).

Three unseeded Spaniards also made inroads into the second round by punishing wildcards all in doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. (WC) Kutuzova), Arantxa Parra Santonja (d. 15-year-old (WC) Tatishvili in three), and Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. (WC) Mirza).

So much for India's version of Maria Sharapova making an impact in the U.S.

Others into the second round on the all-unseeded day were Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (WC) Kirkland), Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Schaul), the Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis (d. Marrero in three), Americans Lisa Raymond (d. countrywoman Washington) and wildcard Angela Haynes (d. (Q) Diaz-Oliva), Czech teen Nicole Vaidisova (d. Srebotnik), Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy (d. (Q) Peterson), Serb Ana Ivanovic (d. (Q) Granville), and French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (d. Strycova in three).

Friday the seeds come out in Miami with scheduled matches (8) Venus vs. Groenefeld, Daniilidou vs. (2) Sharapova, Douchevina vs. (3) Serena, (14) Schiavone vs. Shaughnessy, (19) Henin-Hardenne vs. Spears, (7) Molik vs. Pratt in an all-Aussie, Llagostera Vives vs. (9) Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva, (31) Dinara "Little Sis" Safina vs. Irvin, (15) Likhovtseva vs. Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova, Craybas vs. (21) Sugiyama, Jidkova vs. (23) Asagoe, Peschke vs. (11) Schnyder, Brandi vs. (29) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko, Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. (25) Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga, (17) Suarez vs. (Q) Castano, and (28) Bartoli vs. (Q) Peer.