STRASBOURG, France - Whether it's the surface or the atmosphere, or both, there's just something about the Internationaux de Strasbourg that brings out the best in Anabel Medina Garrigues.

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Medina Garrigues' history here includes a title in 2005, a title in 2007, a title in 2008 and a semifinal showing in 2010; her record here is 22-4. In her 63 61 defeat of Melanie Oudin in first round action on Monday, she started in a 2-0 hole but lost only two more games the rest of the way. The seventh-seeded Spaniard has won nine of her 10 career titles on clay and has a 68% winning percentage on it compared to a 50% winning percentage on other surfaces. Next up for her is Bojana Jovanovski.

Also Monday, Russians Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko, seeded fourth and fifth respectively, recorded their first wins of the 2011 European clay court season. Petrova fought off a set point at 5-4 in the first set of her 76(4) 63 triumph over Rebecca Marino.

"Lost my match against Petrova," tweeted Marino. "It was a tough match, and I'm quite happy with today despite the loss. I'll be playing Roland Garros next."

Kirilenko eased past 2010 Strasbourg runner-up Kristina Barrois, 62 63. No.6 seed Daniela Hantuchova also advanced on a perfect day for seeds.

Ahsha Rolle, Mirjana Lucic, Stéphanie Foretz Gacon and Anna-Lena Groenefeld all secured main draw berths with wins in the final round of qualifying.

Top-seeded Marion Bartoli against Kimiko Date-Krumm is among the matches on Tuesday's schedule. Also, second-seeded Andrea Petkovic takes on fellow German Groenefeld.