Istanbul, Turkey, 26 April 2018 | tennis.com.au

Ajla Tomljanovic on Wednesday defeated Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck to seal a spot in the second round of the WTA event in Istanbul.

Van Uytvanck came to the claycourt event riding high after her impressive performance in Belgium’s win over Italy in Fed Cup, during which she defeated Sara Errani in singles.

Yet Tomljanovic brushed her aside 6-3 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Donna Vekic.

Vekic a day earlier advanced over an injured Agnieszka Radwanska, and has won her one career meeting with the Australian, in the first round of Wuhan qualifying in 2014.

Since the Australian Open, Tomljanovic has won 11 of 17 matches.

The winner of the Tomljanovic-Vekic match will in the quarterfinals face No.7 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, who beat Christina McHale in straight sets in the second round.

Also winning through to the last eight were second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and Pauline Parmentier.