Jarmila Gajdosova and Casey Dellacqua have moved into the second round of the Malaysian Open.

Fourth-seeded Gajdosova beat Germany’s Kathrin Worle 1-6 7-6 (7/2) 7-5 in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Dellacqua beat Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-0 6-2.

Meanwhile, former world number one Jelena Jankovic scraped through the opening round, barely beating Caroline Garcia of France in a hard-fought three-set thriller.

Jankovic, second seed in the tournament, had to slog for nearly three hours before pulling off a 7-6 (9/7) 4-6 7-6 (7/2) victory over 17-year-old Garcia, who fell apart towards the end.

Rain interrupted the game several times, with Jankovic of Serbia saying she slogged to play in the humid weather after only two days of training in Malaysia.

“I was down and almost lost the match … But I managed to stay tough and mentally strong in the last set,” Jankovic, who turned 27 on Tuesday, said.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I was drawn to play her,” she said about Garcia.

“All the credit goes to her for this match. She’s young and had nothing to lose. She came out strong and was pushing me as well.”

The heavy rain also played havoc with the scheduling, with the top seed Agnieszka Radwanska’s match against Akgul Amanmuradova postponed to Wednesday.

Earlier, eighth seed Anne Keothavong of Britain was sent crashing out of the tournament when Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh defeated her 6-4 7-5.

The British star wasn’t happy with several line calls and rain interruptions, which affected her performance.

Keothavong was not the only star to fall in the first round as crowd favourite Sania Mirza of India lost in three games to Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou, who won 6-2 1-6 6-4.

Mirza, who has fallen to No.129 in the latest world rankings, blamed fatigue and a fever for her loss.

Daniilidou will meet Gajdosova in the second round.

“The draw is not easy, but I’ve heard that Jarmila has been struggling lately. I’ve never played Jarmila so I can’t say much,” Daniilidou said.