By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Eleventh seed Sorana Cirstea was among Monday's opening-round winners at the Family Circle Cup tennis event.
The Romanian Cirstea topped German Tatjana Malek 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) on the green clay at Daniel Island Tennis Center.
In action involving Americans on Day 1, Mallory Burdette got past France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 1-6, 6-0 and Belarusian Olga Govortsova doused Jamie Hampton 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.
Additional wins came for France's Mathilde Johansson, Puerto Rico's Monica Puig and Italian Camila Giorgi, who is rewarded with a second-round match against last week's Miami champion Serena Williams. Puig will meet Williams' older sister Venus in the round of 32.
The two-time Family Circle champion Serena beat Czech Lucie Safarova in last year's finale in Charleston.
The top seeds this week are the reigning titlist Serena and former champs Caroline Wozniacki (2011) and Sam Stosur (2010).
The winner of this $795,000 tournament will earn $125,000.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/cirstea-wins-charleston-opener