Maria Sharapova was taken to a third set by Ekaterina Makarova but won the decider to secure a 6-3 3-6 6-1 win and progress into the third round of the WTA event in Madrid.
Russian Sharapova, who is playing for the first time on clay this season at the Spanish tournament, was given a scare when she dropped the second set to her compatriot.
But the former world number one regained her composure to comfortably take the third and book a date in the next round against Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.
Cibulkova was gifted her place in the third round with Hungary's Agnes Szavay pulling out.
In another all-Russian affair, Vera Zvonareva downed Elena Vesnina, although the second seed had to fight back from a disastrous opening set to seal a 0-6 6-3 6-3 victory.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus comfortably saw off Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 6-1 6-1 but 13th seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany fell to defeat to Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 7-6(5).
In first round action, Roberta Vinci, victor at the Barcelona Open last week, beat Olga Govortsova 6-4 6-0 while Alisa Kleybanova stunned ninth seed Shahar Peer 6-3 6-2. The pair will now meet in the second round.
And Australian Open finalist Na Li won through to the next round with a 6-4 7-6(6) victory over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
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