CHARLESTON (South Carolina), April 2: World No 1 Serena Williams, fresh from winning a record sixth Miami Masters title, will seek her third trophy of the season at the WTA Family Circle Cup claycourt event.

Defending champion and top seed Serena, who like the other top-eight seeds received a first-round bye, will play her first match on Tuesday against Italy’s Camila Giorgi, who eliminated Mandy Minella 6-4, 6-4 on Monday.

Serena, a 15-time Grand Slam singles champion, won at Charleston in 2008.

The 31-year-old American won this year at Brisbane as well as Miami, where she downed World No 2 Maria Sharapova of Russia in the final.

Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki has won four clay titles in her career, including at Charleston in 2011.

Wozniacki will open against Spain’s Silvia Soler-Espinosa, who outlasted Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the opening round.

Australia’s third-seeded Samantha Stosur, the 2010 Charleston champion, is also in the mix, playing her first event since pulling out of Indian Wells with a calf injury.

Stosur, of Brisbane, will open against either New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic or Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Andrea Petkovic (Germany) bt Taylor Townsend (US) 6-3, 6-0; Jessica Pegula (US) bt Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-5; Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); Caroline Garcia (France) bt Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4; Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) bt Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) 6-2, 6-2; Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) bt Teliana Pereira (Brazil) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) bt Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3); Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) bt Nastassja Burnett (Italy) 6-2, 6-3; 12-Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Christina Mchale (US) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Grace Min (US) bt 13-Tamira Paszek (Austria) 6-3 — Paszek retired; Mallory Burdette (US) bt Kristina Mladenovic (France) 6-1, 1-6, 6-0; Camila Giorgi (Italy) bt Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) 6-4, 6-4; Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-0; Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt Jamie Hampton (US) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4; Mathilde Johansson (France) bt Melinda Czink (Hungary) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5; 11-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) bt Tatjana Malek (Germany) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).—Agencies