Melbourne, Australia -- Second seed Kim Clijsters from Belgium was among the first-round winners on Tuesday at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of 2006.

A pair of Frenchwomen, third seed Amelie Mauresmo and fifth seed Mary Pierce, also won their each won their opening-rounders in Melbourne.

Clijsters beat South Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho, 6-3, 6-0. This marks a return to the Australian Open for Clijsters, who missed last year's event due to a wrist injury that required surgery in June 2004. Despite the injury setback, Clijsters staged an incredible comeback last year, finishing the year ranked No. 2 after being as low as No. 134 in March and winning her first Grand Slam title at the US Open.

Mauresmo rallied to beat China's Tiantian Sun, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, while Pierce breezed past Australian Nicole Pratt, 6-1, 6-1.

The 26-year-old Mauresmo was the runner-up at this tournament in 1999 and has been a quarterfinalist in her last three appearances in Melbourne. She ended the 2005 season with her biggest tournament win, chalking up victories over Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova before topping Pierce in a three-set final at the WTA Championships.

The resurgent Pierce is a former champion of the Australian Open, winning the title in 1995. This is the 13th appearance at this tournament for Pierce, who is coming off a banner 2005 season. The 31-year-old won two events and was the runner-up at the French and U.S. Opens.

"It's a good start, my first match in a couple months competitively," Pierce said. "It's always good to just kind of get going, get used to the environment, get used to competing again."

Seventh-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder also won her first-round match, downing Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, 6-4, 6-3. Also, 12th seed Anastasia Myskina of Russia beat Yuliana Fedak of the Ukraine, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.