French Open champion Francesca Schiavone got off to a comfortable start at the Italian Open by beating 18-year-old American qualifier Christina McHale 6-3, 6-1 Tuesday.

The second-seeded Italian broke McHale’s serve midway through the first set and cruised from there, helped by vocal support from her home fans at the Foro Italico.

In men’s action, 16th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France eliminated Igor Andreev of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to reach the third round.

In the first round, ninth-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Italian wild card Simone Bolelli 6-0, 7-5; Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia defeated another Italian wild card, Flavio Cipolla, 6-2, 6-3; and Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina eliminated John Isner of the United States 6-4, 6-1.