Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli beat Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the Kremlin Cup on Monday.
The fifth-seeded Frenchwoman, making her debut in Moscow, won the opening set in 27 minutes but was tested in the second by the up-and-coming Bondarenko.
Bartoli, the highest seed in action on the first day of the $2.3 million indoor tournament, broke the 25th-ranked Ukrainian in the 12th game to clinch the win after one hour 46 minutes.
Bartoli, looking for her first title of the year, will face Vera Dushevina in the second round after the Russian wildcard knocked out Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 7-5, 6-1.
Seventh seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also advanced, dispatching France's Emilie Loit 6-4, 6-1. The top four seeds, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Anna Chakvetadze and Serena Williams, all received byes into the second round of the tournament.
On the men's side, eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany had little trouble against American Justin Gimelstob 6-1, 6-3, but sixth-seeded Italian Potito Starace was beaten by world 111 Frenchman Florent Serra 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Wozaniak advances
Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak beat eighth seed Ioana Raluca Olaru 7-5, 6-4 to land a spot in the second round of the Bangkok Open on Monday, adds Reuters.
The 112th-ranked Canadian took one hour, 50 minutes to get past the Romanian, who was the only seeded player in action on Monday.
Croatian Jelena Kostanic made an early exit from the competition after retiring injured during her match with Frenchwoman Camille Pin, who progressed along with 17-year-old Polish wildcard Urszula Radwanska and Australian Casey Dellacqua.
Results (I round) (prefix denotes seedings): Men: Florent Serra (Fra) bt 6 - Potito Starace (Ita) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; 8 - Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Justin Gimelstob (US) 6-1, 6-3.
Women: 5-Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-2, 7-5; 7-Patty Schnyder (Sue) bt Emilie Loit (Fra) 6-4, 6-1; Vera Dushevina (Rus) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 7-5, 6-1. Bangkok Open results: Camille Pin (Fra) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 7-5, 0-0 (retired); Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) bt 8-Ioana Raluca Olaru (Rom) 7-5, 6-4; Urszula Radwanska (Pol) bt Sorana Cirstea (Rom) 6-0, 6-3; Casey Dellacqua (Aus) bt Severine Bremond (Fra) 6-2, 6-4.
