Schmiedlova and Arruabarrena advance in Marrakech

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) Seventh-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia and 97th-ranked Lara Arruabarrena of Spain won their opening matches at the Grand Prix SAR clay-court tournament Monday.

Schmiedlova beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-4, 6-4, and Arruabarrena defeated Kurumi Nara of Japan 7-6 (3), 6-4 to reach the second round at the Royal Tennis Club de Marrakech.

They were the only two main-draw matches of the day.

The top two seeded players in the tournament are 20th-ranked Garbine Muguruza of Spain, a semifinalist last year, and 21st-ranked Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, who has had a breakthrough start to 2015, going 23-3.