Belgians Advance, Qualifiers Thrive at WTA Warsaw

"My first match on clay is always tough and I definitely didn't feel comfortable out there today," Clijsters said after winning her 15th consecutive tour match. "It's tough out there on clay and I feel I have to try 10 times harder than I have to on hardcourts, or grass even. Pushing off is a lot tougher for me, and especially today because the court was a little softer."

Henin-Hardenne said her biggest adjustment is moving from the green clay of Charleston to the red clay in Warsaw.

"(The win) gave me a lot of confidence for sure, but here the court is so different," said Henin-Hardenne, extending her winning streak to six. "It's almost like another surface. It was very dry and very slippery over there. Here, it's heavy so it's a different kind of play."
Other seeded winners on the day were No. 6 Nathalie Dechy (d. Maleeva) and No. 8 Silvia Farina Elia (d. (LL) Pastikova, bagel in the second), while No. 9 Francesca Schiavone was forced to retire against Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi with a thigh strain.

Three qualifiers moved into the second round Tuesday in the Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko (d. (Q) Chakvetadze), Russian Maria Kirilenko (d. Benesova), and Czech Zuzana Ondraskova (d. Douchevina).

Other un-seeds advancing were Serb pin-up girl Ana Ivanovic (d. Sucha, baking a double bagel), Slovak Daniela Hantuchova (d. (WC) Kosinska), Israel's Anna Smashnova (d. Koukalova), and Polish wildcard Marta Domachowska (d. Razzano).

Scheduled for Wednesday are Farina Elia vs. Ondraskova, Clijsters vs. Kirilenko, Hantuchova vs. Bovina, and Smashnova vs. Kuznetsova.