Craybas among early winners at Pac-Life

INDIAN WELLS, Calif., March 8 (UPI) -- Jill Craybas posted a straight-set victory to open the huge $2.1 million Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in California.

Craybas swept past Maria Elena Camerin 6-1, 7-5 on Wednesday as the 12-day event got under way. The men's section of the tournament opens Friday.

Wednesday's play saw 16 matches, with winners moving to the second round where the tournament's seeded players -- all given first-round byes -- await. Among them is No. 1-seeded Maria Sharapova, who needs to advance to at least the semifinals to retain the world's top ranking.

Winners in Wednesday's preliminaries included Michaella Krajicek, who topped Sofia Arvidsson 6-4, 6-3; Nathalie Dechy, who was a 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 winner over Yung-Jan Chan; and Emilie Loit, who stopped Victoria Azarenka, 7-5, 6-3.

Other first-round victors were: Nicole Pratt, Alberta Brianti, Meilen Tu, Shenay Perry, Caroline Wozniacki, Yvonne Meusburger, Martina Sucha, Kaia Kanepi, Tiantian Sun, Agnieszka Radwanska, Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Mirjana Lucic.

The tournament champion will collect $306,890.