Carla Suarez Navarro has advanced to round three at the Sydney International by beating Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 6-3.

The players traded single breaks of serve during the opening set, which eventually went Navarro's way when the Spaniard won the tie-break 7-4.

Navarro then produced an exhibition of fine returning in the second set, winning 17 of 26 points on Makarova's first serve as the Russian was broken four times.

Navarro will face fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the third round, after the German won through 6-3 6-4 against Kaia Kanepi.