“I’m feeling good on clay, so it’s exciting. It’s always exciting to start here,” Wozniacki said.

It was only a year ago that a disappointed Wozniacki had to retire from a semifinal against Vera Zvonareva because of an ankle injury when sliding on the tournament’s green clay.

If Wozniacki had any bad memories of the Family Circle Tennis Center, she got rid of them quickly on the stadium court. She took a 5-0 lead, then after a brief rally by Falconi, won the final six games.

Other early winners were No. 7-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 10 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Wozniacki is the tournament’s headliner, one of three top-10 players taking part. The others are No. 5 Samantha Stosur and No. 8 Jelena Jankovic, both past Family Circle champions who see action later Wednesday.

Wozniacki broke Falconi’s serve to love in the match’s final game, but could not entirely forget last year’s injury.

“You think about it sometimes a little bit sometimes, especially when you go after drop shots,” she said. “But on the other hand, this is a tournament that I’ve always enjoyed playing and center court is so cozy.” Wozniacki has won tournaments in Dubai and Indian Wells this year. She feels her game is ready to perform well here, no matter what happened in the past.

“As the tournament progresses, I’ll feel more and more confident on the clay as well,” she said.