Schiavone advances in Linz

Linz - Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Francesca Schiavone of Italy have earned straight-set wins on Monday to reach the second round of the Generali Ladies.

The 44th-ranked Svitolina defeated Mona Barthel 6-2, 7-5 after the German double-faulted eight times and dropped five service games.

Schiavone hit four aces in beating Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.

The top-seeded player in Linz is ninth-ranked Angelique Kerber of Germany, who was given a late wildcard entry to replace Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic after the former Wimbledon champion pulled out with a back injury.

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

First round:

Francesca Schiavone (ITA) bt Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 7-5, 6-2

Elina Svitolina (UKR) bt Mona Barthel (GER) 6-2, 7-5