Australian Ajla Tomljanovic has lost her first-round match at the WTA’s Kremlin Cup to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

World No.46 Tomljanovic was beaten 7-5 6-4 by Russian Pavlyuchenkova, who will face top ranked Simon Halep in the second round.

Fifth-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova was made to battle by Magdalena Rybarikova before she prevailed 4-6 7-5 6-3.

Daria Kasatkina, the Rusian sixth seed, was pushed in both sets by Lesia Tsurenko but won the important points in a 6-4 7-6 (7-1) victory.

Estonian eighth seed Anett Kontaveit also fought back from a set down in her opening encounter to outlast Russian wildcard Anastasia Potapova 2-6 6-3 7-5.

Yulia Putintseva swept aside Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2 6-0 while Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 6-4.