AMELIA ISLAND (Florida), April 9: Top seed Maria Sharapova, returning from a two-week fatigue break, beat Czech qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova here on Tuesday at the Amelia Island Championship.

Australian Open champion Sharapova defeated Strycova 6-1, 6-3 in her first match at the clay court venue after having sat out the Miami event for the past two weeks.

The 20-year-old Russian beauty had not played since suffering her first loss of the year in an Indian Wells semi-final against countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Sharapova, seeking her first clay-court final after three prior semi-final defeats on the surface, won her first 18 matches of the year, including titles at the Australian Open and Doha.

Fourth seed Marion Bartoli of France suffered her eighth loss in 10 matches, falling to Olga Govortsova of Belarus 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Govortsova, ranked 43rd, dropped the first set but rallied to upset Bartoli, who reached a career-best ninth in the WTA rankings in October but has fallen to 11th with only two triumphs since.

Govortsova surrendered a break in her first service game of the final set but roared back for a 4-2 lead and held on to book a third-round match at the clay-court event against Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Medina Garrigues outlasted Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while France’s Virginie Razzano defeated Poland’s Marta Domachowska 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) in other second-round matches on Tuesday.

Hungarian eighth seed Agnes Szavay became the first to reach the third round by dispatching Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-1. Top-eight seeds had an opening bye.

Lindsay Davenport, 43-6 with four titles since she returned to the WTA last September after giving birth to her first child, reached the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow American Vania King.

Davenport, 31, is 30-5 at Amelia Island with titles in 1997, 2004 and 2005.

She next faces compatriot Jill Craybas and could meet Slovakian third seed Daniela Hantuchova in the third round.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: 1-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-3; Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt 4-Marion Bartoli (France) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; 13-Virginie Razzano (France) bt Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4); 15-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) bt Melinda Czink (Hungary) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 8-Agnes Szavay (Hungary) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-4, 6-1.

First round: 10-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Nuria Llagostera (Spain) 6-2, 6-0; 12-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) 6-4, 6-0; 16-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Vania King (US) 6-2, 6-3; Karolina Sprem (Croatia) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); 14-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Sara Errani (Italy) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; Gisela Dulko (Argentina) bt Edina Gallovits (Romania) 7-5, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) 7-6 (7-1), 6-0; Sorana Cirstea (Romania) bt Bethanie Mattek (US) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 6-3, 7-5; Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Pauline Parmentier (France) 6-3, 6-1.—Agencies