MOSCOW (Reuters) - Top seed Nikolay Davydenko began his bid for a third successive Kremlin Cup title with a 6-1 7-5 win over Frenchman Florent Serra Tuesday.

The Russian world number five cruised through the first set in 32 minutes but the 53rd-ranked Serra put up a better fight in the second, holding his serve to stay in the match.

Davydenko, hoping to secure a place in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, broke Serra's serve in the 11th game to set up a second-round encounter with Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

French pride suffered another beating at Moscow's Olympic sports complex when Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin upset sixth seed Michael Llodra 7-6 6-3.

In the women's event, fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova again avenged her Olympic defeat by Li Na by beating the Chinese 6-4 7-5. Li shocked the Russian in the first round of the Beijing Olympics in August, though Kuznetsova beat her in the Pan Pacific Open the following month.

"I knew she was a tough nut to crack so I'm happy to win in straight sets," Kuznetsova told a news conference.

"I'm still not totally satisfied with my game though but I hope it gets better in the later rounds."

Next up for the former U.S. Open champion is Italian qualifier Sara Errani, who knocked out world number 17 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6 6-4 6-3.

The top four seeds, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic, have byes into the second round of the $2.3-million indoor tournament.

The women's field is the strongest in the Kremlin Cup's 19-year history, with only world number two Serena Williams and number six Maria Sharapova among the leading players absent because of injury.

(Reporting by Gennady Fyodorov; Editing by Clare Fallon)