Pavlyuchenkova wins, Tauson’s run ends in St. Petersburg

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beats Cagla Buyukakcay in straight sets; Daria Kasatkina beats Clara Tauson.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in action during the Dubai Tennis Championship earlier this month.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova eased into the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on Tuesday as teenager Clara Tauson's 13-match winning run came to a halt.

SCORE CENTRE

Seeded fifth, Pavlyuchenkova won 6-4, 6-4 against Cagla Buyukakcay and will play either Katarina Zavatska or Anastasia Gasanova in the second round.

Eighth-seeded Daria Kasatkina beat Tauson 6-4, 7-6 (0) in the first round after Tauson’s surprise first WTA title in Lyon last week. The 18-year-old Dane had won her last 13 matches, starting with an ITF event last month and continuing with her run through qualifiers to the Lyon title, and two more rounds of qualifying in St. Petersburg.

Wild-card holder Margarita Gasparyan lost a first-set tiebreak but recovered to upset seventh-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-1 for a second-round meeting with Katerina Siniakova.

Top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova has a second-round meeting with Tereza Martincova, who won 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 over Stefanie Voegele after a frantic deciding set with seven breaks of serve including in each of the last five games.