ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was made to fight for a place in the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Tuesday, beating Czech veteran Klara Koukalova in three sets.
World No. 26 Pavlyuchenkova, who is seeded fifth in St. Petersburg, needed 2 hours, 14 minutes to beat qualifier Koukalova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Her reward is a second-round meeting with German Carina Witthoeft, who defeated Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-3, 6-3.
Monica Niculescu of Romania, the world No. 37, moved into the second round earlier in the day with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Russia's Natalia Vikhlyantseva.