Clijsters Lone Seed Through Tuesday at WTA Eastbourne

"I started the match very strongly, but she improved her game in the second, and I needed to step it up towards the end of the set so it wouldn't go to three sets," said Clijsters, making her first appearance on grass since Wimbledon of 2003. "I know she had a good week in Birmingham last week, so I needed to be in good form to win the match."

France's Marion Bartoli ousted the other lone seed in play, straight-setting No. 6 Elena Likhovtseva.

Three qualifiers were among the unseeded winners in Russians Vera Douchevina (d. (Q) Srebotnik from a set down) and Anna Chakvetadze (d. Maleeva from a set down), and Italy's Roberta Vinci (d. Sprem in three), joined by other unseeded winners Amy Frazier of the U.S. (d. Sugiyama from a set down), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Farina Elia in three), wildcard Conchita Martinez (d. WC) Baltacha in three), and lucky losers Lisa Raymond of the U.S. (d. Asagoe) and Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi (d. Hantuchova in three).

Frazier saved five match points to notch her fourth consecutive win over Sugiyama.

Scheduled for Wednesday in Eastbourne are Chakvetadze vs. Kuznetsova in an all-Russian, Mauresmo vs. Douchevina, Myskina vs. Vento-Kabchi, Clijsters vs. Martinez, Raymond vs. Bartoli, Dechy vs. Frazier, Razzano vs. Molik, and Vinci vs. Zvonareva.