Gavrilova through in Moscow

Australia’s Daria Gavrilova has continued her hot form with a 6-2 6-2 first-round upset of Lucie Safarova at the Kremlin Cup.

The 22-year-old, following on from a stunning run which included victory over world No.1 Angelique Kerber to reach the semifinals at the Hong Kong Open last week, maintained her hot streak with victory over the former world No.5.

Meanwhile, Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh ousted sixth-seeded Barbora Strycovaon Tuesday, winning 6-4 1-6 6-2.

The 18-year-old Konjuh will now face either Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova or Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova in the second round.

Earlier, former top-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-3 in a match featuring 15 breaks of serve.

“It was very difficult for me to hold my serve because my opponent was returning very well and she was at times making so many great winners,” Jankovic said.

Younger Ymer breaks through

Eighteen-year-old Mikael Ymer of Sweden has stunned Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the Stockholm Open, dropping just three games to the Spaniard in an emphatic 6-2 6-1 win.

Verdasco lost both his serve and temper against the 549th-ranked Swede, who earned his first win on the ATP Tour.

But his older brother Elias Ymer didn’t make it to the second round after losing to Germany’s Tobias Kamke in straight sets.

Nicolas Almagro struggled against Yuichi Sugita but won 3-6 7-6(1) 6-3, while Dustin Brown rallied to beat the hard-serving Gilles Muller 4-6 6-3 6-3.

Portugal’s Gastao Elias also advanced after beating Ivan Dodig of Croatia.