Top seed Marion Bartoli has lit up the opening night of the Moorilla Hobart International with a commanding display against former world No.1 Dinara Safina of Russia.
Bartoli enjoyed a straight sets victory against the 2009 Australian Open runner-up, 6-0 6-1 in one hour and 31 minutes.
“She [Safina] was a very tough opponent tonight – if you look at the rallies we played I think it was a really great match,” the world No.16 said.
“Some days we are really tight and the result goes my way. The score could have much been much tougher and much tighter.
“Everyone told me that Monday night is pretty special here [Hobart]…but I think the crowd really enjoyed match. Both of us put on a great show and it was a great atmosphere.”
Despite the strong performance, Bartoli was keen to take each match at a time in the tournament.
“I’m not going to put myself on the edge of winning this tournament yet. I need to keep my focus very high and not think too far ahead.”
Earlier today No.6 seed Jarmila Groth (AUS) and former champion Alicia Molik (AUS) had comfortable wins in their opening matches.
Groth began the tournament with a victory against Johanna Larsson (SWE) while Molik defeated Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) in straight set in front of an exciting crowd at the Domain Tennis Centre.
Two of the top three seeds were also defeated in the first round, with No.2 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova retiring hurt against Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) and No.3 seed Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) falling to Shuai Peng of China.
British No.1 Elena Baltacha also enjoyed a straight sets win against Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
Tournament wildcards and Australian rising stars Olivia Rogowska and Sally Peers were both defeated in their first round matches, but will join forces in their first round doubles match later this week.