{babes} Sharapova, Bartoli, 3 other seeds advance

STANFORD, Calif. (AP)—Maria Sharapova won her first hard-court match in four months, beating Zheng Jie 6-4, 7-5 Tuesday night at the Bank of the West Classic.

The last time Sharapova played on the surface, at Indian Wells, Calif., in March, she lost to Zheng.

The fifth-seeded and 15th-ranked Sharapova, who missed six weeks with a right elbow injury during the spring, won for the 15th time in her last 18 matches.

Defending champion Marion Bartoli was another of the five seeded players to advance, beating American Ashley Harkleroad 6-1, 6-4.

The fourth-seeded Frenchwoman, ranked 14th, beat Harkleroad for the first time in three meetings, though it was their first matchup in six years.

"She played really well, especially in the second set," Bartoli said. "For someone who hasn't played that much lately, she was giving me a hard time out there."

Bartoli, who faces wild-card entry Ana Ivanovic in the second round, won 81 percent of her first serve points to overwhelm the American, who played her second match on the WTA Tour in two years.

In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Shahar Peer beat Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; No. 7 Yanina Wickmayer downed Yung-Jan Chan 6-3, 6-4; eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka topped Ayumi Morita 6-0, 6-2; qualifier Olga Savchuk knocked off Jill Craybas 6-3, 6-3; Christina McHale defeated Kai-Chen Chang 3-6, 6-0, 6-2; and Maria Kirilenko beat qualifier Mirjana Lucic 6-1, 6-4.