Charleston, SC, USA, 5 April 2017 | tennis.com.au

Sam Stosur has made a promising start to the WTA Tour’s clay court season with an impressive win over Serbian Jelena Jankovic in Charleston.

In her first match on clay this season, the No.6-seeded Stosur recorded a 6-1 6-3 victory in 73 minutes to move into the third round.

It was a battle between two former champions at the Volvo Car Open, with Jankovic having won the title in 2007 and Stosur in 2010.

Stosur dictated the second round match with her serve, winning 70 per cent of points on serve to record just her third win over former world No.1 Jankovic in their 10th career meeting. It snapped a four-match losing streak against the Serbian world No.53 stretching back to 2010.

“I’ve had eight hours of practice on clay courts, so all in all, I’m pleased with how I started the match and got through it in straight sets,” Stosur told the WTA Tour website. “A lot of it comes down to the serve; if I can hit my spots and be accurate, it’ll be hard for my opponent.”

.@BamBamSam30 is first through to @VolvoCarOpen Round of 16!

Tops Jankovic 6-1, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/X9NNwHN03V

— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017

Stosur, who had a first round bye, is the first player into the tournament’s third round. She faces either 10th-seeded Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu or Slovakian Kristina Kucova next. They meet in the second round tomorrow.

.@BamBamSam30 ❤️'s @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/MTOcBiRI9R

— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017

Australians Anastasia Rodionova and Daria Gavrilova also feature in second round matches tomorrow.

> Read more on Rodionova’s first round win