Stosur cruises in Stuttgart

Stuttgart - US Open winner Samantha Stosur admitted she was happy with her start to Stuttgart's WTA clay-court tournament on Tuesday after seeing off China's Shuai Peng in straight sets.

The 28-year-old Australian, who is the fifth seed here, needed less than an hour to see off Peng 6-2, 6-2 and was rarely tested by her Chinese opponent in her first round tie.

Having helped Australia to a 3-2 Fed Cup win over Germany on Stuttgart's clay courts over the weekend, Stosur has been here for several days and after winning both her Fed Cup singles matches is happy with her form on clay.

"It was good, I thought I played well and served well, it was nice to get through in straight sets," said Brisbane-born Stosur.

"It was handy to have been here a week already, whereas a lot of the other girls were only arriving from Fed Cup on Monday night.

"Sometimes the best preparations don't equate to the best performance, but you aren't going to complain about playing Fed Cup in the same place as your next event.

"I played well over the weekend and managed to keep that going today, so far so good as far as the clay-court goes, so I am feeling good."

Stosur will face Germany's Julia Goerges, the defending champion, or Russia's Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round here.

"Either player will be tough, I had a long three-setter against Julia in the semi-final here last year and haven't played her since," said Stosur.

"Against Anastasia, we have played a few times and I have both won and lost.

"Maybe if I get Julia it will be extra hard playing a German here."

French qualifier Alize Cornet will face second-seed Maria Sharapova in the second round after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia's Anna Chakvetadze.

And compatriot Mario Bartoli, the seventh-seed here, is also in the second round after her 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

Bartoli will face either ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic or Germany's Mona Barthel in the second round.

Results from the first day of the WTA tournament on Tuesday (x denotes seeding):

First round:

Samantha Stosur (AUS x5) bt Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-2, 6-2
Greta Arn (HUN) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 7-5, 6-3
Angelique Kerber (GER) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA) 6-2, 6-3
Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Monica Niculescu (ROM) 6-3, 7-5
Julia Goerges (GER) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Marion Bartoli (FRA x7) bt Iveta Benesova (CZE) 6-3, 6-2
Alize Cornet (FRA) bt Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 6-3, 6-4