German fourth seed Angelique Kerber has safely progressed to the second round of the Sydney International with a three-set win over Ukraine’s Elona Svitolina.

Kerber, the only member of the women’s world top 10 not to have suffered an Australian Open setback in the opening fortnight of the year, prevailed 4-6 6-0 6-3 after a slow start at Ken Rosewall Arena.

In other early first-round results on Monday, Russians Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Makarova advanced with straight-set wins.