FILDERSTADT, (Germany), Oct 8: Cheered by boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, Kim Clijsters claimed her first victory over Russia’s Anastasia Myskina in three career meetings Tuesday to reach the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a 6-4 6-2 victory.

There were also wins for four-times former champion Martina Hingis, who overcame Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-4 6-2, fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, who beat German wildcard Barbara Rittner 6-4 6-0 and qualifier Alexandra Stevenson who overcame fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3 5-7 6-3 to set up a clash with top seed Jennifer Capriati.

Myskina had beaten sixth seed Clijsters both at Wimbledon two years ago and recently in the semi-finals of the Leipzig event. This time she played a competitive first set, but was completely overwhelmed in the second as the Belgian dominated the rallies by running her round the court and forcing errors.

A year ago the clash between Hingis and Sanchez-Vicario might have been a final, but both have struggled this year.

RESULT: Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Barbara Rittner (Germany) 6-4 6-0 Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) 6-4 6-2 -Kim Clijsters (Belgium) bt Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 6-4 6-2 Alexandra Stevenson (US) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (U.S.) 6-3 5-7 6-3.

LYON GRAND PRIX

LYON, Oct 8: Results from first round matches at the $800,000 Lyon Grand Prix ATP men’s tennis tournament on Tuesday:

Arnaud Clement bt Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-2; Kristian Pless bt David Sanchez 6-4 6-4; Nicolas Escude bt Davide Sanguinetti 7-6 (7-4) 6-1; Sebastien Grosjean bt Cedric Pioline 6-1 5-7 6-1; Marc Rosset bt Adrian Voinea 6-4 6-4; Carlos Moya bt Jan Vacek 6-4 6-3; Bohdan Ulihrach bt Michel Kratochvil 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-2); Andrei Pavel bt Albert Costa (Spain) 7-6 (8-6) 6-1; Agustin Calleri bt Taylor Dent 6-4 5-7 6-3; Guillermo Coria bt Nicolas Lapentti 5-7 7-5 7-5.—Reuters