Switzerland’s Bencic wins to open play at the Volvo Car Open

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Ninth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland opened play at the Volvo Car Open with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Australia’s Destanee Aiava on Monday at the WTA’s first clay-court event of the season.

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the 10th seed, opened play at the Volvo Car Open with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Johanna Larsson of Sweden on Monday at the WTA’s first clay court tournament of the season.

Other seeded players winning were 10th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 13th-seeded Sofia Kenin of the United State and 14th-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia. Kenin ousted 2009 tournament champion Sabine Lisicki 7-5, 6-4.

The tournament’s top seed, American Sloane Stephens, starts play on Tuesday.