Ekaterina Makarova defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 7-5 7-5 in round one of the 2015 Citi Open on Monday night.
The top seed in Washington narrowly overcame her opponent at the end of two even sets to progress to the second round of the competition she reached the semi-finals in last year, only to lose to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Five breaks of serve as Makarova clinches opening set
A lively start to the match saw the Russian break Van Uytvanck immediately, before consolidating her lead with a comfortable service game to make it 2-0 very quickly.
The Belgian fought back and broke back to make it 2-2, and even went on to take a 4-2 lead as she won four games in a row in the first set, but Makarova showed her quality to get the match back on serve before breaking late in the set to give herself the chance to serve for it.
Van Uytvanck fought hard in her final service game of the first set, one which went to deuce five times and saw her save two break points, but her opponent eventually broke her resistance before serving out comfortably to take the lead.
Second set is more settled, but the Russian again breaks when it matters
Things were much tighter in set number two, mainly because each player served so well. The server lost just eight points in total in the first eight games of the set, with no deuces and break points in sight as we looked set for a tie-break going by what had been seen as the scores read 4-4.
Van Uytvanck struggled more to win her fifth game of the set, saving three more break points in the process, but it was during her sixth service game that she cracked, gifting Makarova two break points - with her taking the first with little hesitation.
The Russian then proceeded to serve for the match rather comfortably, losing just one point in the final game of the evening.
Tested top seed could face Brit in next round
Makarova will be thrilled with her opening match in Washington, having been thoroughly tested by a top player but come through comfortably having shown her quality in a super performance.
Round two presents her with an easier challenge, with either British qualifier Naomi Broady or Austria's Jarmila Gajdosova next up. With the former ranked 212th and the latter 76th, the top seed at the 2015 Citi Open will certainly fancy her chances of progressing to the quarter-finals.