Seeds safely through

Silvia Farina Elia needed three sets to win through

Silvia Farina Elia and Magdalena Maleeva have both eased into the second round of the Sparkassen Cup in Leipzig.

Maleeva cruised through in straight sets against Denisa Chladkova and only dropped her serve twice, early on in both sets.

"I played a very good match and served very well," the sixth seed from Bulgaria said after her 6-3 6-3 win.

"It was a tough first round but I made it easy by playing well," she added.

Farina Elia was made to work harder than her fellow seed to see off German qualifier Barbara Rittner.

The fifth seed was a break up in the second set before Rittner fought back to level after winning a tie-break.

But Farina maintained a steady rhythm in the deciding set before closing out with her first match point to win 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-4.

Elsewhere Angeles Montolio beat her Spanish compatriot Cristina Torrens Valero 4-6 6-4 7-5.

Tatiana Panova saw off the challenge of her fellow Russian Nadejda Petrova in straight set tie-breaks that ended 7-3 7-5.

Panova will now face Maleeva in the second round.