Second seed Elena Dementieva overcame an erratic start to beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 2-6 6-1 7-5 in the second round of the Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
Dementieva had suffered a shock first-round exit at last month's Australian Open and the Russian was forced to work hard for her first victory of the year.
The world number nine received a first-round bye and will face either Czech Nicole Vaidisova or Japan's Saori Obata in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seed Vaidisova plays Obata in a second-round match later on Wednesday.
In other matches, Lisa Raymond thrashed fellow American Meilen Tu 6-1 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova on Thursday.
Australia's Samantha Stosur breezed past Japan's Aiko Nakamura by the same score and next plays Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.