Li, the tournament's No. 4 seed, rolled past Masa Zec Peskiric 6-3, 6-3 to open her run in a clay-court tune-up ahead of the French Open.

No. 8 seeded Akiko Morigami was ousted by Caroline Maes 7-5, 6-4 but ninth-seeded Emilie Loit advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Tiantian Sun. Also posting first-round wins Monday were Varvara Lepchenko and Vera Dushevina.

Amelie Mauresmo is the No. 1 seed at Strasbourg while Jelena Jankovic, who won the tournament last week in Rome, is seeded second.

The winner of the Strasbourg International will take home $27,000.