Vaidisova, Serena fall in Charleston

The 17-year-old Czech took the first set before losing 4-6 6-4 6-3 to her Dutch opponent, ranked 54 in the world.

The tournament, already hit by a series of injury withdrawals, lost another big name after third seed Serena Williams retired from her match with Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan with a right groin strain.

The Australian Open champion was trailing 5-3 in the first set when she decided she could not continue.

Her sister Venus, meanwhile, looked sharp cruising past Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-2 in a first-round match. Unseeded Williams blew away the Australian doubles specialist, seeded 14th here, with 120 mph serves on the green clay.

"I don't think of myself as an underdog," the five-times grand slam winner said.

"I just think of myself as not being as ready as

The former world number one is returning to form after missing four months through injury.

World number 19 Tatiana Golovin, who defeated Nadia Petrova last week in the Amelia Island final, was hampered by a blister on her toe but still managed to beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4 6-1.

"My whole body is kind of giving up on me slowly, little by little," said the 19-year-old Moscow-born Frenchwoman. "But my trainer is here and he'll take good care of me and I'll be ready to go."

Also on Tuesday, Francesca Schiavone of Italy advanced after her opponent Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain retired with a back injury.

Virginie Razzano of France defeated Meghann Shaughnessy of the U.S. 6-3 6-4, Sybille Bammer of Austria rolled by Alicia Molik of Australia 6-3 6-1 and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia beat Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko 1-6 6-2 6-4.