Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Kazakhstan's Ksenia Pervak in the first round of $2 million Rome Masters on Monday, setting up a second-round match against Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
World No. 22 Pavlyuchenkova downed Pervak in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, taking five of eight break points where the world No. 38 could only convert two.
Elsewhere, Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-4, 6-3 to Serbia's Ana Ivanovic.
The former world No. 1 won all five of her break points on the Kuznetsova serve. The Russian was successful only in two of seven break attempts.
In the second round Ivanovic will face either Italian Alberta Brianti or Spaniard Silvia Soler.
