Samantha Stosur continued her remarkable recovery from illness by posting an upset first-round win over Shahar Peer at the East West Bank Classic.
The 24-year-old Australian, who spent eight months on the sidelines after contracting the potentially deadly Lyme Disease and viral meningitis, thrashed the 12th-seeded Israeli 6-1 6-1.
Stosur, who has shot up to 87th in the world on the back of a good grasscourt season and a quarter-final appearance in California, had eight aces and won 83 percent (15-of-18) of her first-service points in needing just 52 minutes to eliminate Peer.
Stosur's best ranking was 27th early last year.
Hungarian Melinda Czink also pulled off an upset, ousting 13th-seed Virginie Razzano 6-3 6-3.
Czink, who only made it into the draw after Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew due to a right knee injury, broke Razzano early in the second set and never trailed before finishing the match.
Sybille Bammer survived a mild scare after an easy start to advance to the second round.
Bammer, the 14th seed, won the first 11 games en route to a 6-0 6-4 victory over Ahsha Rolle.
Rolle broke Bammer's serve twice in the second set and appeared to be gaining momentum in hopes of extending the match to a third set.
The Austrian, however, finally ended the match, breaking the American qualifier's serve in the 10th game of the second set.
India`s Sania Mirza, the 16th seed, defeated Czech qualifier Eva Hrdinova 6-3 6-4, while the unseeded winners were Bethanie Mattek, Olga Savchuk, Olga Govortsova, Tamira Paszek, Chan Yung-Jan, Jill Craybas, Marta Domachowska and Petra Kvitova.
The top eight players in the tournament all received first-round byes and will not be in action until later in the week. Jelena Jankovic is the top seed and Serena Williams is seeded second.
Anna Chakvetadze and Dinara Safina, who also are ranked in the top 10, are the third and fourth seeds respectively.
Williams, who has won here twice (1999, 2000), is coming off a semi-final appearance at Stanford, where she retired with a left knee injury on Saturday.
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic is not entered in the tournament.
WTA East West Bank Classic, Los Angeles Results - Day 1
Samantha Stosur (Australia) def. 12-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-1 6-1
Melinda Czink (Hungary) def. 13-Virginie Razzano (France) 6-3 6-3
14-Sybille Bammer (Austria) def. Ahsha Rolle (USA) 6-0 6-4
16-Sania Mirza (India) def. Eva Hrdinova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4
Olga Govortsova (Belarus) def. Drya Kustova (Belarus) 6-3 6-4
Marta Domachowska (Poland) def. Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-3 6-3
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) def. Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-4 1-6 7-5
Chan Yung-Jan (Chinese Taipei) def. Aravane Rezai (France) 6-1 6-4
Jill Craybas (USA) def. Anne Keothavong (Great Britain) 6-3 6-2
Tamira Paszek (Austria) def. Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-4 6-2
Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) def. Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-4 6-3
Bethanie Mattek (USA) def. Abigail Spears (USA) 6-2 6-4