EASTBOURNE (England) June 14: Kim Clijsters’s first match on grass in two years ended in a comfortable victory for the former world number one on Tuesday. Clijsters, who missed most of last year because of a wrist problem and suffered a knee injury earlier this year, was happy with her 6-1 7-6 victory over Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the Eastbourne WTA tournament.

The Belgian had not played on grass since a Wimbledon semi-final loss to Venus Williams in 2003 and came to Eastbourne a week early determined to get in plenty of practice on the surface.

Clijsters, seeded seventh, had expected a tough opening match against Jankovic, the losing finalist at the Birmingham grasscourt event at the weekend.

Though she had to fight off two breakpoints in the third game and found that the windy conditions made serving difficult, Clijsters rattled through the first set in just 23 minutes.

Clijsters, a finalist at the Australian Open in 2004, lost her touch briefly at the start of the second set, picking up just one point in two games.

She broke straight back, however, and the set went with serve to a tiebreak where three backhand errors in succession by Jankovic helped Clijsters to a 7-2 win.

Clijsters now faces either former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez of Spain or British wild card Elena Baltacha.

Russian Elena Likhovtseva became the first seed to go out of the 585,000-pound ($1.06-million) tournament, losing 7-6 6-2 to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli. The top four seeds — Amelie Mauresmo of France, defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Australian Alicia Molik and Russian Anastasia Myskina — enter the tournament on Wednesday, after receiving first-round byes.

First round results: Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) 6-7 6-1 6-2; Conchita Martinez (Spain) bt Elena Baltacha (Britain) 7-5 2-6 6-1; Marion Bartoli (France) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 7-6(8) 6-2; Vera Douchevina (Russia) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 1-6 6-2 6-2; Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt Jelena Jankovic (Serbia and Montenegro) 6-1 7-6(2); Virginie Razzano (France) bt Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 6-3 4-6 6-4; Amy Frazier (United States) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 4-6 7-5 6-4; Lisa Raymond (United States) bt Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 6-1 6-2.

Paradorn WINS

LONDON: Champion Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand eased into the second round of the Nottingham Open with a 6-3 6-2 victory over British qualifier Mark Hilton on Tuesday.