Halep to face Pavlyuchenkova in Moscow comeback

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Moscow, October 16: Anastasia ​Pavlyuchenkova will play Simona Halep in the second round of the Kremlin Cup after beating Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets.

Halep used a wildcard to make her return from a back injury in Moscow ahead of the WTA Finals next week and will come up against Pavlyuchenkova, a 7-5 6-4 winner on Monday (October 15).

World number one Halep has won all eight matches against Russian Pavlyuchenkova, who broke twice in each set against Tomljanovic to advance in her homeland.

Daria Kasatkina also advanced on home soil by defeating Lesia Tsurenko 6-4 7-6 (7-1) in a contest which finished after midnight local time.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich will come up against Kiki Bertens, still in the hunt for one of the two WTA Finals spots which are up for grabs this week, following a 6-3 6-4 success against Mihaela Buzarnescu.

Anett Kontaveit, Anastasija Sevastova and Yulia Putintseva also made it through to round two.

Meanwhile, sixth seed Donna Vekic breezed into the second round of the Luxembourg Open, thrashing Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-0 6-1.

Pauline Parmentier accounted for Viktorija Golubic with a 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 triumph on Monday, with Vera Lapko and Anna Blinkova recording respective victories over German duo Carina Witthoeft and Tatjana Maria.