SHENZHEN, China - It was a near-perfect beginning to a new season for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Sunday.

The No.8 seed got off to a sizzling start in her debut in somewhat chilly conditions at the Shenzhen Open, as she needed just 53 minutes to defeat Ana Bogdan, 6-0, 6-1, and record her first win of the 2019 season with two days nonetheless remaining in the current calendar year. 

"I couldn't be more happy or more pleased with how I started this season - well, almost, there's still two days to go," the Russian said after the match. "It's always tough to start the season after a long break when we haven't played matches for a long time.

"I really like this tournament and I'm really happy I came here. I think it was a good choice to start the season. It's nice to be here." 

Despite being put under pressure in each of her first two service games of the match, the World No.47 swept through the opener in just under 30 minutes. 

The Russian served at 71 percent and broke Bogdan three times, as she also saved both break points she faced in a lengthy third game - which represented Bogdan's best chance to get on the board in the first six games.

Pavlyuchenkova struck 10 winners to just five unforced errors in the first six games, as Bogdan racked up 10 unforced errors to go along with just four winners. 


More of the same eventually came for the Russian in the second set, as she nabbed another early break and won 10 of the first 13 points played.

However, Bogdan finally put a game on her side of the scoreboard by winning the next three points for her first break, and seemed to be well on her way to leveling the score for the first time as she built a 40-0 lead in the next game.

From there, Pavlyuchenkova nonetheless dealt a crucial blow in that game, as she won five straight points to break once more and ultimately never looked back.

In victory, the Russian hit 18 winners to just nine unforced errors, while Bogdan accumulated a total of 22 miscues to just nine winners over the match, as she struggled to keep pace with a surging Pavlyuchenkova in their baseline exchanges. 

"Almost everything went well...but I'm quite satisfied and happy. There's still a lot to work on to keep going and progress, but so far, for the first match, I'm happy," she added. "There were a lot of good points from us today...I just went out there, hit the ball and wanted to win the match."

The No.8 seed could face another Romanian in Irina-Camelia Begu up next, or qualifier Veronika Kudermetova.

In other first round action, it was wins for another two Russians as two-time major finalist Vera Zvonareva, a wildcard into the draw, defeated Luksika Kumkhum, 6-3, 6-3, while Evgeniya Rodina came from 5-1 down in the decisive tiebreak to defeat Zarina Diyas, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7).

Elsewhere, Pauline Parmentier upset No.6 seed Zheng Saisai, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, while Wang Yafan and Sorana Cirstea advanced to the second round with straight set victories over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Magda Linette, respectively.