Clijsters wins opener at Sydney International

SYDNEY – U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters easily won her first-round match in the Sydney International, beating Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-1, 6-2 in 62 minutes Sunday.

The third-seeded Clijsters will face Russian Nadia Petrova or a qualifier in the second round in the Australian Open tuneup event.

Also, two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Australian wild-card Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2.

The third-seeded Clijsters dropped just six points on her serve.

"Maybe not the fastest serves I've hit, but I was very focused on trying to place my serves well and just making a lot of serves, especially when you're playing into the sun," Clijsters said. "I didn't want to give her a lot of second serves that she could attack on, so I was happy with that."

Clijsters opened the year with a straight-sets win over No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in a New Year's Day exhibition match in Thailand.

"I had a good feeling with the way I was playing in Thailand and I was looking to lift my game up even a bit more," Clijsters said. "I'm happy with the level that I played and with my intensity and my focus and everything."

Dokic said she was still recovering from a stomach virus.

"I'm not 100 percent, but better, still a bit weak," Dokic said.