Doha, Qatar, 23 February 2016 | AAP/AP

Daria Gavrilova has made a convincing start to the Qatar Open in Doha, progressing to the second round with a straight-sets win over Japan’s Misaki Doi.

The world No.35 lost only two games in the first round match, winning 6-1 6-1.

The Melburnian will now meet tournament No.13 seed Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the last 16 after the Dane triumphed 4-6 6-3 7-5 over Croatia’s Ana Konjuh.

Wozniacki, the former world No. 1, had to work overtime to avoid a first-up loss for the third time in her last four tournaments.

After dropping the first set, Wozniacki seemed in control when she won the second and raced to 5-2 in the third.

But Konjuh went for risky shots and was rewarded with success as she clawed back to 5-5.

She went on to save eight match points before finally succumbing.

“A win is a win. I am going to take it and I am happy,” Wozniacki said. “It’s the first match and you just want to get going. I wasn’t hitting it well.”

US Open champion Roberta Vinci celebrated her rise into the top 10 by putting away Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-2 6-1 and Italian compatriot Sara Errani, fresh from winning the Dubai Championships on Saturday, defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 1-6 7-5 6-3.

Another former US Open champ, Svetlana Kuznetsova, beat Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3 6-3 while the only upset on the day was 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine falling to Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 7-5 6-4.

The top eight seeds, led by Australian Open champ Angelique Kerber of Germany, have a bye into the second round.