Moscow - Former No 1 Ana Ivanovic advanced to the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals after beating Russian qualifier Valeria Solovieva 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday.
The 11th-ranked Serb broke the 19-year-old Russian, who was playing in only her second WTA match, three times.
"It was a good match for me," Ivanovic said. "It's never easy to play someone you haven't seen before as you don't know how they react in the different situations. But I'm happy I've managed to finish in good style."
Ivanovic, whose best result this season was a semi-final appearance in Indian Wells in March, will be playing in her fifth quarter-final. The 2008 French Open champion is looking for her 12th career title.
Ivanovic will next face Serbian qualifier Vesna Dolonc, who advanced to her second career WTA quarter-final by routing Romania's Simona Halep 6-1, 6-0.
Seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko, the only Russian left in the women's draw, rallied from 5-1 down in the first set to beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-5, 6-4.
In the second round of the men's tournament, Jerzy Janowicz of Poland advanced to the quarter-finals by beating seventh-seeded Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-4.
Results on Thursday from the Kremlin Cup, an ATP-WTA tournament on indoor hard-courts at Olympic Indoor Stadium (seedings in parentheses):
Men
Second Round
Jerzy Janowicz, Poland, def. Carlos Berlocq (7), Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.
Andreas Seppi (2), Italy, def. Igor Sijsling, Netherlands, 7-5, 6-2.
Thomaz Bellucci (4), Brazil, def. Flavio Cipolla, Italy, 6-4, 6-1.
Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, def. Alexandr Dolgopolov (1), Ukraine, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (8/6).
Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, def. Alex Bogomolov Jr, Russia, 7-6 (13/11), 6-4.
Women
Second Round
Ana Ivanovic (4), Serbia def. Valeria Solovieva, Russia, 6-1, 6-4.
Maria Kirilenko (7), Russia, def. Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan, 7-5, 6-4.
Vesna Dolonc, Serbia, def. Simona Halep, Romania, 6-1, 6-0.
Samantha Stosur (1), Australia, def. Alize Cornet, France, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.