Wild card Pemra Ozgen gave the home crowd plenty to cheer as she battled through to the second round of the Istanbul Cup.

The world number 393 is ranked nearly 300 places below today's opponent Arantxa Rus but she kept her nerve to defeat the Dutchwoman 6-3 6-7 (2/7) 6-2.

There was no such fairytale for Ozgen's countrywoman Ipek Senoglu, though, as she was thrashed 6-0 6-2 by Maria Elena Camerin.

The two seeds in action today both came through close matches. Fourth seed Aravane Rezai was a 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 winner over Viktoriya Kutuzova while Olga Govortsova, seeded seventh, was pushed all the way by Tsvetana Pironkova before triumphing 6-2 5-7 6-4.

In other matches, Poland's Marta Domachowska recovered from a first-set mauling to see off Patricia Mayr 1-6 6-2 6-0 while Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky eased past Polona Hercog 6-2 6-2.