No. 1 seed Dementieva wins opener at ASB Classic

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Top-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan 7-5, 6-3 on Tuesday to progress to the second round of the ASB Classic women's tennis tournament.

The Russian player, ranked fourth in the world, struggled in the first set but settled into her game in the second, beating the unseeded Chan in 92 minutes.

"She was on fire at the beginning and put a lot of pressure on me," Dementieva said. "I didn't expect such a high level and it took me a while to get into the game."

Second-seeded Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark needed only 56 minutes to beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-1, 6-0.

Wozniaki served three aces and won 80 percent of his first-serve points.

"I knew it was going to be tough, but I just managed to win the important points and push her the way I wanted," Wozniaki said.

Eighth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain also had an easy passage to the second round, beating Nathalie Dechy of France 6-4, 6-0, while seventh-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-3, 6-1.

The success of the seeded players followed victories Monday by No. 3 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, No. 4 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, No. 5 Shahar Peer of Israel and No. 6 Nicole Vaidisova of Czech Republic.