Carolina cruise for Martina

Martina Hingis breezed into the third round of the WTA Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina, with a straight sets win over German qualifier Bianka Lamade today.

Lamade led halfway through the first set, but then the world No 1 from Switzerland stepped up a gear to seal a 7-6, 6-1 triumph in the unseasonably cold and windy conditions.

The No1 seed admitted: "The most important thing was just to put the ball in play. I just settled down and got used to it. In the beginning, I didn't know what to do."

Conchita Martinez suffered the shock of losing the first set 6-1 to American Lilia Osterloh, but she then gathered her senses and blasted her way through the final two sets 6-3, 6-0.

The victory ended a four-match losing streak for the Spaniard, who last won a game way back in January at the Australian Open.

Martinez, a winner of this clay court event in 1994 and 1995 when it was staged at Hilton Head Island, reeled off 11 of the last 12 games to complete a memorable second-round victory.

The former Wimbledon champion said: "It was a good win and hopefully it will give my confidence a boost."

Amy Frazier became the first player to reach the third round when the 10th seeded American overwhelmed German Andrea Glass 6-2, 6-2.

Back in the first round, 11th-seeded American Lisa Raymond breezed to a 6-3 6-0 win over Rika Hiraki of Japan.

Raymond revealed: "It's always a relief to get past the first round at any tournament." But then joked: "It was so windy that when I woke up this morning, I thought I was in England." Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia struggled early on before defeating Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada 7-6, 6-2 while 16th seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy eventually shook off South Africa's Joannette Kruger 7-6, 7-5.

Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie managed to edge out Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, but Elena Likhovtseva endured a tough time before the Russian saw off Austrian qualifier Marion Maruska 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.