FORMER China Open winner Naomi Osaka got her 2024 campaign at the tournament off to a perfect start, defeating Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-3, 6-2 on the opening day of the tournament.

Although she ultimately finished with a lower first serve percentage than her Italian opponent, Osaka absolutely blitzed Bronzetti on the aces count, winning it eight to one, and comfortably had a much higher first serve points won percentage. Osaka also saved significantly more break points than Bronzetti did.

The next few weeks will be important for Osaka, who says she is trying to become seeded again by the time the Australian Open rolls around in January and is currently 73rd in the world, so getting a win first up in Beijing is the perfect start to that.

“I think for me the Asian Swing is full of possibilities,” Osaka said. “I’ve always done really well at the end of the year. I always look forward to it. Especially with the two tournaments in Japan, for me it’s kind of the time to dig deep and try to get really good results.”

Osaka now has Yulia Putintseva to contend with next up, who does have the edge in the head to head count between the pair. Putintseva got through to the second round after enjoying a bye in the opening one.

Among the other winners on the opening day of competition were:

• Sofia Kenin, who initially did not have it all her own way against Ana Bogdan but eventually prevailed in straight sets.
• Shuai Zhang, who was made to work hard for her win over American McCartney Kessler
• Greet Minnen, who got the win against Erika Andreeva in straight sets.
• Hailey Baptiste, who made light work of Varvara Gracheva.