MARRAKECH, Morocco — Top-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain and No. 2 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland won in straight sets to reach the second round of the Grand Prix SAR clay-court tournament on Tuesday.
Muguruza, a semifinalist last year, saved all three break points she faced in a 6-4, 6-1 win over Daria Kasatkina, breaking the Russian player's serve four times. She next faces France's Kristina Mladenovic.
Bacsinszky, who has had a breakthrough start to the year, had five aces in a 6-3, 7-5 win against Russia's Evgeniya Rodina to improve to 24-3 overall. Her next opponent is Germany's Tatjana Maria.