Stosur reaches second round in Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW: Last year's beaten finalist Australia's Samantha Stosur, seeded seven, outclassed unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, the finalist in 2011, in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to reach the second round as she was allowed to start her campaign later having jetted in after winning the title in Osaka last Sunday.

The 29-year-old Stosur, ranked 19th to her opponent's 29th, converted four of her 11 break points in the 65-minute encounter to level their head-to-head record at 1-1.

"I played really well today as Kaia is a very dangerous opponent," said Stosur, who is seeking her third title of the year in Moscow.

"I really tried to start the match well. I felt like I played at the same level as in Osaka.

"Last year it was really tough as I had to play too many long matches here.

"Last time I didn't win the final but I have another opportunity here this time around. And so far I did good today and I hope I will carry this for another few days."

Stosur will face Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in the second round.

In the men's section of the event defending champion Andreas Seppi of Italy, who is seeded second, experienced few problems on his way to the quarter-finals, easing past compatriot Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-2.

"It's not easy to play against the guy from your country as we know each other pretty well," Seppi said.

"But I think I played a solid match today with very aggressive tennis. And I think it was a good start to the tournament for me."

Seppi, 29, will face French journeyman Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the quarter-finals, as the latter beat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky -- conqueror of Roger Federer at Wimbledon this year -- 7-5, 7-5.

However, there was an upset as third seed and the 2011 champion Janko Tipsarevic went down to a 6-4, 6-4 defeat by 17-year-old Russian wild card Karen Khachanov, who was playing just his fourth career ATP match. (AFP)