Caroline Garcia overcame a sloppy start to defeat Carina Witthoeft 7-5 6-4 and book a spot in the second round of the inaugural Mallorca Open.

Witthoeft is ranked some 70 places below the sixth seed, but made a mockery of the rankings early on by racing into a 3-0 first-set lead.

However, the German then failed to serve out for the opener when 5-3 ahead and Garcia roared back to win straight four games and clinch the opening set.

Witthoeft continued to make a fight of it and broke back in game eight of the second set to level at 4-4, but Garcia broke again before serving out for the win.

In other matches, Anastasija Sevastova hammered Stefanie Voegele 6-0 6-2, wildcard Daniela Hantuchova resoundingly defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1 6-3, and Mariana Duque-Marino overcame Alison van Uytvanck 3-6 6-3 6-4.