The Russian matched Germany’s Angelika Roesch in the first set before stepping up the pressure to win 7-6 (3), 6-0 to enter the second round.

But much of the focus was on the tussle between Uzbekistan’s Iroda Tulyaganova and American Neha Uberoi with the Uzbek cruising through in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 after more than one and a half hour on court.

Uberoi, who was one of the three wild card entrants here, did not have the best of starts as Tulyaganova broke her early and then held serve for a 2-0 lead. But the American fought back holding her serve and then notched a break to level things at 2-2.

At this juncture, Uberoi’s serve deserted her and Tulyaganova snatched her chance for a break and held serve to go 5-3 ahead.

The second set was more evenly match with Uberoi fighting for every point as the players stayed tied 2-2. Tulyaganova got a crucial break in the fifth game to go 3-2 clear, after which she never looked back, breaking Uberoi once more to take set and match 6-2.

“She is an aggressive player, she is a fighter,” Tulyaganova said.

The two played each other in an event in Italy last year and the Uzbek girl had come out winner then too. “But that was on clay and I was a bit apprehensive,” Tulyaganova said.

Uberoi was disappointed with the result. “I was feeling good and thought I would play much better here,” Uberoi said.

“I think the difference between me and her was the serve. She served well and I did not,” Uberoi said.

The Uzbek girl’s best performance here was a quarterfinal in the singles in 1999. “I hope I can better my record this year,” she said.

A one-time top-20 player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Tulyaganova has slipped down the rankings after a long lay-off of three years following an elbow surgery. “But it has been good now especially after I have started winning once again. I hope this tournament can give me a lot of confidence,” she said.

Action will continue today with top seed Maria Kirilenko expected to play wild card Aniko Kapros in their opening round match this afternoon.

Results

Singles qualifiers
V. Diatchenko bt A. Poltoraskaya 1-6, 6-2, 6-0; A. Malyarchikova bt M. Johansson 6-3, 6-3; I. Kuzmina bt K. Avdiyenko 6-4, 6-4; I. Pavlovic 7-6, 6-0.

Singles first round
E. Rodina bt E. Shulaeva 6-2, 6-1; Y. Fedak bt S. Gehrlein 6-2, 6-2; I. Tulyaganova bt N. Uberoi 6-4, 6-2; A. Kudryavtseva 7-6 (3), 6-0.

Doubles first round
V. Kapshay/K. Nagy bt V. Diatchenko/E. Dranets 6-1, 6-2