Olympic women's doubles champion Li Na showed her game in Berlin Open as the rising tennis star of China defeated Maria Kirilenko of Russia Monday in the rain-affected first round.

The 14th seed, who was the 18th on the recently released WTA world rankings, worked hard to overcome possible comeback from the Russian, winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at the German Open, a key claycourt warm-up for the French Open.

In other first-round matches, 13th seed Shahar Peer of Israel beat German hope Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2 and France's Severine Bremond was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over another German player, Sabine Lisicki.

The 1.34-million-dollar Berlin tournament will see Justine Henin as the top seed and world number three Amelie Mauresmo returning to action after an operation for appendicitis, while world number eight Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic has pulled out because of a wrist injury