Stosur breezes into Stuttgart's second round

STUTTGART, Germany: US Open winner Samantha Stosur admitted she was happy with her start to Stuttgart's WTA clay-court tournament on Tuesday after seeing off China's Shuai Peng in straight sets.

The 28-year-old Australian, who is the fifth seed here, needed less than an hour to see off Peng 6-2, 6-2 and was rarely tested by her Chinese opponent in her first round tie.

Having helped Australia to a 3-2 Fed Cup win over Germany on Stuttgart's clay courts over the weekend, Stosur has been here for several days and after winning both her Fed Cup singles matches is happy with her form on clay.

Stosur will face Germany's Julia Goerges, the defending champion, or Russia's Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round here.

French qualifier Alize Cornet will face second-seed Maria Sharapova in the second round after her 6-3, 6-4 win over Russia's Anna Chakvetadze.

And compatriot Mario Bartoli, the seventh-seed here, is also in the second round after her 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

Bartoli will face either ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic or Germany's Mona Barthel in the second round. (AFP)