MOSCOW: Fifth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain beat local favorite Andrei Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4 Monday to reach the second round of the Kremlin Cup.

Bautista-Agut won in 1 hour, 17 minutes to set up a meeting with either Australia’s Sam Groth or Russian wild card Andrei Rublev, who play Tuesday.

“It felt good. I think I played a solid match,” Bautista Agut said. “I feel a lot of confidence.” Bautista Agut won the last three games of the first set, then had two match points saved while leading 5-2 in the second.

Also, eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi advanced by beating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-4. Seppi, the 2012 Kremlin Cup champion and a semifinalist last year, faces either Croatia’s Ivan Dodig or Spain’s Pere Riba in the second round.

“(Lajovic) is a very tough player. He did pretty well, so it’s a good first-round win,” Seppi said. “I’ve played some very nice matches here, so coming back is pretty special for me.” In the women’s draw, fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova advanced into the second round when her Czech opponent Klara Koukalova retired with a viral illness after losing the first set 6-1.

Either Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus or Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova awaits Kuznetsova in the second round.

Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova also progressed, beating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-2, 6-2.

Kvitova to lead

Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will lead the Czech Republic team in next month’s Fed Cup final against Germany.

Karolina Pliskova, the 22-year-old rising star of Czech tennis, was named to the preliminary squad for the first time. Pliskova defeated Camila Giorgi of Italy in the final of the Generali Ladies on Sunday for her second WTA title this year to reach a career high ranking of No. 27.

Lucie Safarova is also in contention for singles, while doubles specialists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka have also been selected for the Nov. 8-9 series on an indoor hardcourt in Prague.

Czech coal Petr Pala still has to narrow his team to four players.

The Czechs, who beat Germany in their previous three encounters, won the Fed Cup in 2011 and ‘12.

Federer No.2

Roger Federer’s triumph in the Shanghai Masters tournament on Sunday has seen him back up to second in the ATP world rankings, the first time he has been that high since May, 2013.

The 33-year-old Swiss star is more than 3,000 points behind top-ranked Novak Djokovic, but he did have the satisfaction of defeating the Serb in straight sets in the Shanghai semifinals.

Rafael Nadal moves down to third in the rankings with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka staying at fourth despite an early exit in China to Gilles Simon.

The Frenchman went on to reach the final where he lost to Federer and that was enough to hoist him up 11 places to 18th.

Serena Williams continued to dominate the WTA rankings despite being sidelined with an injury to her left knee.

The 33-year-old American was forced to abandon her defense of the China Open earlier this month due to the injury, with second-ranking Maria Sharapova going on to win the tournament.

But she is still nearly 2,000 points clear of the Russian atop the rankings.

Injury has also blighted Canada’s Eugenie Bourchard as she had to pull out of her second round tie in Linz last week.

That meant she dropped down one spot in the rankings from sixth to seventh with Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland moving ahead of her.