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Strasbourg - Fourth-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Rebecca Marino of Canada 7-6 (4), 6-3 to reach the second round of the Strasbourg International on Monday.
Petrova, twice a semi-finalist at the French Open, has struggled on clay so far this season and lost first round-matches both in Madrid and Rome.
Petrova next plays either Alize Cornet or Sania Mirza.
Fifth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia easily beat last year's finalist Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-2, 6-3 and will take on Laura Pous-Tio of Spain.
Seventh-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, Mathilde Johansson of France and Serbian Bojana Jovanovski also advanced.
Garrigues made light work of American Melanie Oudin 6-3, 6-1 to start her quest for a fourth title in Strasbourg while Pous-Tio beat German Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-2.
Johansson converted five of 11 break points to beat Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, 6-1, 6-1 in just 61 minutes and Jovanovski downed Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Results from the first day of the WTA Strasbourg Open on Monday (x denotes seeding):
First Round
Mathilde Johansson (FRA) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) 6-1, 6-1
Maria Kirilenko (RUS x5) bt Kristina Barrois (GER) 6-2, 6-3
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP x7) bt Melanie Oudin (USA) 6-3, 6-1
Nadia Petrova (RUS x4) bt Rebecca Marino (CAN) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3
Laura Pous (ESP) bt Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-4, 6-2
