What is the best way to check and retrieve the first item of a collection?

I understand this is somewhat trivial but...

What the best way to get the reference the first item of a collection if any exist? Assume the collection contains items of a reference-type.

Code Sample 1:

if (collection.Any())
{
    var firstItem = collection.First();
    // add logic here
}

The above sample has two separate calls on the collection starting an iteration which complete as soon as the first is detected.

Code Sample 2:

var firstItem = collection.FirstOrDefault();
if (firstItem != null)
{
    // add logic here
}

The above sample only has a single call on the collection but introduces a variable that is unnecessarily in a wider scope.

Is there a best-practices related to this scenario? Is there a better solution?