Seeds on form at Brasil Open

Top seed and world number 29 Jelena Jankovic made light work of Valeriya Solovyeva after a tough first set, winning 7-5 6-4 in just over one hour, 40 minutes on Monday.

As for second seed Irina-Camelia Begu, she had a tougher time of it against local Laura Pigossi, winning 3-6 6-3 6-4 in Florianopolis.

Third seed Monica Puig beat Anastasia Pivovarova 6-2 6-3, with fellow seed Nao Hibino beating Emily Webley-Smith 6-3 6-0.

Jelena Ostapenko – the fourth seed – was a 6-4 6-4 victor over Nadiia Kichenok as she served up seven aces in a strong performance from the Austrian, as sixth seed Timea Babos beat Nadia Podoroska 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-2.

Teliana Pereira was the only seed to lose on the opening day as the ninth-seeded local fell 6-3 6-2 to Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine.

Pereira was not the only local to falter, as Gabriela Ce lost 6-1 6-4 against Montserrar Gonzales, while Beatriz Haddad Maia was the other local to lose 5-7 7-5 6-0 to Olga Savchuk.

Paula Cristina Goncalves restored some local pride with a 6-3 6-1 win over Martina Capurro Taborda.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Ana Bogdan, Tereza Martincova, Catalina Pella and Alize Lim.