DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—No. 11 seed Marion Bartoli of France and 14th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy won first-round matches at the Dubai Tennis Championship.
The highest seed to play Sunday, Bartoli routed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-0 while playing at what she called ``a very high level.'' Schiavone beat Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 7-5.
In other opening matches, Sabine Lisicki defeated Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan 6-1, 6-4. The German will now play defending champion Venus Williams, having beaten the American at Charleston last year in their only previous meeting.
Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko topped Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1, and Regina Kulikova downed wild card Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Russian match.