By Dale Budge at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre

Crowd favourite Ashley Harkleroad has moved swiftly through to the second round of the ASB Classic with a 6-2 6-4 win over fellow American Teryn Ashley.

The 18-year-old Harkleroad breezed through the first set in just 28 minutes, easily seeing off anything Ashley threw at her.

The second set provided a far tougher workout for Harkleroad as Ashley began to grow in confidence.

Harkleroad's serve began to fall away slightly, double faulting on a couple of occasions.

Although she broke Ashley's serve in the first game, Harkleroad was broken herself in the second.

The world number 52 then broke serve again in the seventh and ninth games but dropped the eighth game on serve.

She broke Ashley one last time in the ninth and held serve to claim the match in one hour and six minutes.

She delighted fans in her debut at Auckland last year and has already proven a success with fans in the 2004 event.

Known to her fans as Pebbles after The Flinstones ' character because she grew up in Flintstone, Georgia, Harkleroad appears to have taken over Anna Kournikova reigns as the new tennis Barbie.

Harkleroad will meet the winner of the Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi v Julia Vakulenko match in the second round on Wednesday.

Source: nzoom