The Kazakhstani tennis player, seeded No. 1 in the tournament, faced India’s Danika Fernando in her opening match.
Considered the favorite, Kulambayeva wrapped up the match in just over an hour with a convincing 6:3, 6:0 victory. She will next face another home player, Saumya Ronde, for a place in the quarterfinals.
Kulambayeva has now won six matches in a row in India, including last week’s tournament in Nagpur, where she claimed the title.
In doubles, Kulambayeva and Russia’s Ekaterina Yashina were also seeded No. 1. The Kazakh-Russian pair comfortably defeated Aarushi Mahendra Raval and Sameeksha Shroff 6:2, 6:1 to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals, Kulambayeva and Yashina will face either Sreemanya Reddy Anugonda and Danika Fernando (India) or Melissa Boyden (Netherlands) and Elsa Wan (Malaysia).
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov advances to the Grand Prix Hassan II main draw in Marrakech.
