Success on the red clay of Europe often does not come easily for American women not named Serena Williams. The world No. 1 has not yet started her Rome campaign, but four of her compatriots shone on Monday as the Internazionali BNL d'Italia began.

Leading the charge was Serena's sister, just a month before her 34th birthday. Venus Williams had not played a match on red clay this year, although she had shown solid form on the green clay of Charleston. Absent from the Premier Mandatory event in Madrid, Venus returned to action with an emphatic victory over young German talent Annika Beck. The left-handed Beck broke the American's serve only once and won just four games overall in a 72-minute affair. 

Venus may have been fortunate to start her Rome campaign against an opponent who is not much fonder of the surface than she is. The same was true for the other Americans in action on Monday, including 16th seed Sloane Stephens. The second-ranked woman from the United States reached the second week of Roland Garros this year, proving that the clay need not be her nemesis. Stephens faced early adversity as she fell behind Bojana Jovanovski, but she recovered from losing the first set of her first match for the second straight tournament. She took a set off world No. 2 Li Na in Madrid last week, so her early-season slump may have started to lighten.

In one of the matches on Monday, an American woman arguably held the surface edge over her opponent. Varvara Lepchenko has compiled her best results on clay, including an 11-6 record there in 2013 that contrasted with her overall 18-25 mark at WTA events. Lepchenko dropped only a single game to doubles specialist Peng Shuai, whose double-fisted game shines more on faster surfaces. She will meet Stephens in one of the more intriguing second-round matchups with the winner projected to face Serena in another all-American clash.

One of these meetings between Americans occurred in the first round, when Madison Keys cruised past Alison Riske. Both women wield big serves and relatively rough-hewn first strikes, not the ideal set of strengths for clay. The victory for Keys helped confirm her status ahead of Riske in the hierarchy of American talent and showed that she could hit through one of the slowest surfaces of any event.

Not every American woman in action on Monday survived to reach the second round. The United States split its WTA matchups with China as Zhang Shuai compensated for Peng's loss to Lepchenko by dominating Lauren Davis. Still, Davis deserved credit for qualifying for this Premier Five event on her weakest surface. 

Other notable victors in the women's draw included former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, who routed Karin Knapp for the loss of just two games. Ivanovic has not lost to an opponent outside the top 10 since Indian Wells, an encouraging improvement in consistency for the 2008 Roland Garros champion. The winner there a year later, Svetlana Kuznetsova won an all-Russian clash with the rusty Maria Kirilenko, who recently returned from injury. And 2010 Roland Garros champion Francesca Schiavone extended the string of strong results for French Open titlists by dismissing Eugenie Bouchard. Dormant for most of 2014, Schiavone surely gained morale from the Italian fans against a player relatively inexperienced on clay.