MOSCOW (AP) -- Martina Hingis advanced to the second round of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Sandra Kleinova, a Czech qualifier ranked 135th on the WTA Tour.

Hingis, seeded first and the defending champion, has won only one tournament this year. This was her first match since she lost to Serena Williams in the U.S. Open semifinals.

Fourth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France had a rougher time, losing to Francesca Schiavone of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the second round of the $2.2 million tournament.

The 34-year-old Tauziat, the oldest woman on the tour, won this event in 1999.

Kleinova played a strong first set, breaking the Swiss star in the third and seventh games.

``In the first set, she just kept hitting down the lines,'' Hingis said. ``And by the time I realized it, she was able to score a lot of points.''

Hingis regrouped and won the second set in 24 minutes.

``It took me awhile to get going,'' she said. ``Besides, I have never played her before and I didn't expect her to play that well.''

Tauziat likes a serve-and-volley game and was unhappy with the new carpet at Olympic indoor stadium.

``It was like playing on clay,'' said Tauziat, who had only one ace.

Tauziat rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third set to make it 5-5. But she lost the set and the match in the 12th game.

In other women's matches, sixth-seeded Silvia Farina-Elia of Italy ousted Martina Sucha of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2; seventh-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria eliminated Anke Huber of Germany 6-3, 7-5; and Barbara Schett of Austria defeated Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-1, 6-4.

In the men's first round, fourth-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany downed qualifier Bob Brayan of the United States 6-1, 6-4; seventh-seeded Canas Guillermo of Argentina routed Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden 6-0, 6-1; and David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Anthony Dupuis of France 7-5, 6-4.