No.3 seed Elina Svitolina has powered past Carla Suarez Navarro in a high quality first-round tussle at the Brisbane International, but two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has withdrawn ahead of her first match slated for Monday afternoon.

The Ukrainian prevailed 6-2 6-4 on Monday but was made to work for every point by the energetic Spaniard, who for the most part matched Svitolina’s power from the baseline.

Ultimately the world No.6 had the answers though, rattling off a series of winners to claim the first set before pouncing on Suarez Navarro’s serve at 5-4 to complete the first-up victory.

Svitolina had a career-best year in 2017, winning a tour-best five WTA titles to peak at a career-high ranking of three.

Chuffed at how well she served in key moments on Monday, Svitolina admitted that climbing to the top of the women’s rankings this year had been on her mind.

“Of course this is the goal, but I don’t want to have this pressure,” she said.

“(I just want to ) play my best and improve each tournament, each match and be strong mentally – there’s lots of things (I want to achieve), not only being No.1.

“There was some tough moments, was struggling with a few injuries … but I think we’re on the right path.”

Meanwhile Kvitova withdrew from the tournament with a viral illness and will be replaced by lucky loser Heather Watson, who takes on Anett Kontaveit on Monday afternoon.

Kvitova is faring well in her comeback from hand surgery after being stabbed in a home invasion about one year ago, and was ranked No.29 to start the Australian summer.

Having stormed through qualifying, 2012 Brisbane champion Kaia Kanepi disposed of Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-2 and will play the winner of Monday night’s match between Ashleigh Barty and Lesia Tsurenko.