Seventh seed Belinda Bencic cruised past Sara Errani in the opening round of the Brisbane International on Monday (4th January) with Carla Suarez Navarro also easing through against Ajla Tomljanovic.

The pick of the first round matches in the WTA Brisbane International saw seventh seed Belinda Bencic face former French Open finalist Sara Errani.

The Swiss dominated from the outset, returning Errani's serve with interest on her way to taking the first set 6-1 in just 28 minutes.

The Italian broke serve three times in the match but was unable to hold her own serve once as the 18-year-old cruised through 6-1 6-2 to reach the second round where she will face Samantha Crawford of the United States.

Ajla Tomljanovic carried home hopes against sixth seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

The Croatian-born 22-year-old carried an abdominal injury into the match and she suffered against the Spaniard, dropping the first set 6-1.

Tomljanovic's usually potent serve was far weaker than normal and Suarez Navarro broke seven times in total to win 6-1 6-2 and set up a second-round clash with another Australian Sam Stosur.