Bencic dumps Kirilenko from Family Circle Cup

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Bencic broke Kirilenko three times in the first set to take it out in just 29 minutes and then held on in a much tighter second to triumph 6-1 7-5 and reach the second round of the WTA Premier event in Charleston.

Making her return from a left knee injury in South Carolina, Kirilenko was the only seeded player to be eliminated on the opening day, with Madison Keys and Lucie Safarova both advancing.

Safarova, the Czech ninth seed, cruised past Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2 6-3, while American 15th seed Keys battled hard to overcome Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 7-6 (7-0) 7-6 (7-3).

In the clash between Bencic and Kirilenko, the 17-year-old Swiss broke the latter in the opening game to claim some early momentum.

Kirilenko held serve in the third game to reduce Bencic's lead to 2-1 but the Russian world number 29 failed to stick with her opponent for the rest of the set.

The 27-year-old Russian was much more competitive in the second set and broke Bencic in the opening game, however, Kirilenko's own serve let her down.

Kirilenko held serve just two times in the second set and, although she broke Bencic three times to stay in the match, the world number 140 eventually triumphed in one hour and 52 minutes.

Bencic was not the only qualifier to win on Monday with Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia defeating American Christina McHale 6-3 7-5, while the Netherlands' Kiki Bertens prevailed 7-5 3-6 6-3 over Paula Ormaechea of Argentina and the United States' Grace Min won 6-3 1-6 6-3 against fellow qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.

Safarova took advantage of Larsson's wayward serving to win her first-round encounter with the Swede.

Larsson was unable to hold serve in the first set and was also broken once in the second as Safarova won in one hour and 19 minutes.

Keys gave up a 3-0 lead in the first set of her match against Lucic-Baroni to trail 4-3 but won every point in the tie-break, while the 19-year-old American surrendered a 5-2 lead in the second before again dominating the tie-break to emerge victorious after an hour and 44 minutes.

South African Chanelle Scheepers was a 4-6 6-2 6-3 winner over Alison Riske of the United States, while another American, Lauren Davis, triumphed 6-1 6-4 against Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany.

Virginie Razzano defeated Julia Goerges 6-0 5-7 6-2, Elina Svitolina prevailed 6-1 5-7 7-6 (7-5) over Jarmila Gajdosova and Yaroslava Shvedova eliminated Zheng Saisai 6-2 3-6 7-5.

In other results, Ajla Tomljanovic recovered to win 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-5 against Stefanie Voegele, Teliana Pereira trumped Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-1 7-6 (7-5), Jana Cepelova edged out Melanie Oudin 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 and Petra Cetkovska advanced at the expense of Varvara Lepchenko after a 6-1 2-6 6-0 victory.

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