2018 champion Naomi Osaka eased into the second round at the BNP Paribas Open after defeating No.100 Sara Errani 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday. 

The victory is Osaka's 50th WTA 1000 win on hard court. She is only the third Asian player to achieve as many since the format’s introduction in 2009. 

Playing her first tournament since making the quarterfinals in Doha last month, Osaka overpowered the former No.5 to notch the fourth win of her comeback from maternity leave. Osaka overcame the blustery conditions to seal a 69-minute victory and move to 2-0 against Errani.

She will face another Italian, No.15 Liudmila Samsonova, in the second round on Saturday. 

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The pedestrian scoreline belies the numerous chances Errani earned to keep Osaka under pressure. Errani broke first, taking advantage of an error-strewn game from the former No.1 to build a 2-1 lead. That would trigger a string of breaks between the two. 

The key moment came with Errani serving at 3-2. Errani came within a point of consolidating her break lead to 4-2, but Osaka played her best point of the set to patiently drag Errani corner to corner before setting up for a big forehand winner. 

From that point on, Osaka would lose just one game in the match. She broke Errani to level at 3-3 and then saved two break points to hold serve in the longest game of the match. Having fended off Errani's consistent pressure, Osaka broke for a 5-3 lead and closed out the set.

Errani continued to pressure Osaka early in the second set, earning two break points for a 2-0 lead. But as was the case throughout the match, Osaka calmly stood up to the pressure. She saved the break points -- two of the eight that she saved in the match -- and won the next six games to book her spot in the second round.