Russian Anna Chakvetadze continued her winning form to sweep aside Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 7-5, 6-2 at the Linz Open on Tuesday.
Eighth seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy was not as fortunate as she was upset 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 by Russia's Vera Zvonareva.
Chakvetadze, playing her first match since lifting the Kremlin Cup title nine days ago, needed patience to come out top in a baseline battle against Srebotnik.
After four consecutive breaks in the middle of the first set, Chakvetadze broke to love to lead 6-5 and served out the set.
She then finished strongly in the second, breaking for 3-2 and again for a 5-2 lead before serving out the match.
Schiavone made the better start against an emotional Zvonareva, who was muttering to herself throughout and appeared close to tears at times as she disputed numerous line calls.
She hurled her racket to the ground when she was broken for 4-3 in the first set and was handed a warning for racket abuse when she smashed it after losing the set.
She showed better composure in the second and third sets, using her powerful forehand to good effect while Schiavone helped her with an endless succession of unforced errors.
Polish qualifier Agnieszka Radwanska defeated struggling German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 7-5, and in a clash between two former champions, Mary Pierce of France overcame Japan's Ai Sugiyama 7-6, 7-6.
More from rediff