Third-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States survived athree-set opening match against Bulgaria's Sesil Karatantcheva 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 inthe first round of the Citi Open on Monday.
Second-seeded Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa and fifth-seeded BarboraZahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic were not so lucky.
American Brian Baker, a shock participant in the round of 16 at Wimbledonearlier this year, dropped the final two sets to Frenchman Florent Serra andwas eliminated, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the men's tournament.
His more experience compatriot James Blake did progress, with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2triumph over No. 5 seed Pablo Andujar.
The 32-year-old Blake's 2012 campaign had been a losing one enteringWashington, site of his first title 10 years ago. Coming off knee surgery inNovember, he lost eight of his nine matches this year.
"I was a little falsely optimistic earlier in the year," Blake said."I really thought I was able to get out there and compete. I don't havethe ability to compete with these guys unless I'm 100 percent. My legs feelgreat now."
In the late match, sixth-seeded Jeremy Chardy beat his French compatriotEdouard Roger-Vasselin 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Scheepers, ranked No. 42 in the world, fell 6-2, 6-1 to Magdalena Rybarikova ofSlovakia. Zahlavova Strycova was beaten by Romania's Edina Gallovits-Hall, 7-5,4-6, 6-3.
After losing the final three games of the second set, including two on her ownserve, Stephens opened the third by breaking Karatantcheva twice for a 3-0lead. The 19-year-old American, who reached the fourth round at the French Openand the third round at Wimbledon this year, tacked on two more breaks of serveto advance.
No. 7 seed Coco Vandeweghe of the United States avoided an upset by defeatingErika Sema of Japan 6-4, 6-1. Eighth-seeded Olga Govortsova topped KarolinaPliskova 6-2, 6-2, and Leonardo Mayer beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (5), 7-6(8) to advance to the second round.
France's Aravane Rezai recovered from being down a break in the third set andedged American Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The Washington tournament, a staple on the ATP schedule, is combining with theWTA Tour for the first time.
Mardy Fish, the top-seeded men's player, is scheduled to play his opening matchon Tuesday. Fish, the No. 13 ranked player, skipped the Olympics after missingseveral weeks on tour earlier this year following a procedure to correct aheart problem.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is the top seed in the women's draw.