Navarro kicks off Madrid Open journey with win over Strycova

Madrid May 6 (IANS) Spanish tennis player Carla Suarez Navarro on Sunday made her debut at the Madrid Open with a 6-3 6-3 win over Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

The World No.25 needed one hour and 28 minutes to earn her sixth straight victory over Strycova world No. 12 reports Efe.

Strycova won only a single match out of eight against Suarez Navarro at the 2009 Mexican Open.

For a place in the third round Suarez Navarro is set to face fourth-seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine who defeated France s Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2 in the first round.

The Spanish player has won three of her six matches against Svitolina world No. 4.

Also on Sunday Monica Puig of Puerto Rico defeated Kazakhstan s Zarina Diyas 6-4 2-6 6-2 in one hour and 58 minutes.

Puig is set to play in the second round against the winner of the match between the Czech Republic s Petra Kvitova 10th-seed and Ukraine s Lesia Tsurenko.

--IANS
gau/bg