World number three Coco Gauff beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-5 6-3 in her debut at the China Open.
She extended her unbeaten run to 13, having won 19 of 20 matches since a first-round exit at Wimbledon and faces world number 48 Petra Martic next.
Elsewhere, Petra Kvitova criticised the scheduling after her 6-4 7-5 second-round loss to Liudmila Samsonova.
World number two Iga Swiatek reached the second round with a 6-4 6-3 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo.
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In other first-round matches, fifth seed Elena Rybakina beat Qinwen Zheng 6-1 6-2 while Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur progressed after overcoming Ashlyn Krueger 6-3 6-4.