Kiki Bertens beat Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead over Russia in a Fed Cup first round tie in Moscow on Saturday.

Bertens, ranked 106th in the world, beat the 27-year-old Russian on the hardcourt of Moscow's indoor Olympic arena 6-3, 6-4 in one hour 13 minutes.

"My serve was good today, especially the first serve," Bertens said.

"I hadn't played her before but I saw her playing a couple of times. She's a good player but today she has made a lot of mistakes and it helped me a bit in the beginning."

Bertens added that despite the win for the Dutch in the opening rubber of the tie, she still considered Russia as favourites to win the tie.

Left-hander Makarova, currently 31st in the world rankings, started the match with an immediate break but promptly lost her nerve allowing Bertens to produce three breaks to take the opening set in 33 minutes.

In the fifth game of the second set Bertens broke again and powered past her helpless rival for a 6-4 win sealing her victory on the first match point with a serve, which Makarova failed to return.

In Saturday's second rubber two-time former Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Richel Hogenkamp in what will be their first encounter.