France's Alize Cornet beat Anastasia Rodionova of Australia in straight sets to book a place in the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday.
It took Cornet over two hours to dispatch the doubles specialist for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
In the second round, 22-year-old Cornet plays Australian Sam Stosur, who had a first-round bye as the top seed.
Elsewhere, Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova demolished local favorite Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2, while her compatriot Galina Voskoboeva was upset by Serbian qualifier Vesna Dolonc 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Earlier, reigning champion Dominika Cibulkova came back from a set down to defeat Ekaterina Makarova 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 and set up a second-round match with Bulgaria's Tvsetana Pironkova.
Pironkova pulled off a surprise 6-0, 7-6 win against illness-hit U.S. No. 2 Varvara Lepchenko.
