Danielle Collins beat Zheng Saisai 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in 1 hour and 37 minutes to score her first win in their three head-to-head matches.
Zheng beat Collins 6-2 6-0 in the second round at the 2019 San José tournament en route to winning the biggest title of her career in 2019.
Collins has extended her record to 8-3 in Australian tournaments this year, including a quarter final at the Yarra Valley Classic and a semifinal in Phillip Island last week.
Collins built up a 5-2 in the first set with two breaks in the second and sixth games. Zheng pulled the second break back in the ninth game to draw level to 5-5 sending the first set to the tie-break. Collins went up a 4-1 lead in the tie-break. Zheng clawed her way back to draw level to 5-5. Collins won the final two points to win the tie-break 7-5. Collins broke three times to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the second set.
Collins will take on world number 1 Ashleigh Barty in the second round. Barty leads 3-0 in her previous three head-to-head matches against Collins, including a 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7-5) win in Adelaide last year.
Former US Open semifinalist Anastasia Sevastova beat Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-4 in their first hardcourt match.
Wang Qiang beat 18-year-old wildcard Olivia Gadecki 6-4 6-3.
Shelby Rogers defeated this year’s Abu Dhabi finalist Veronika Kudemertova 6-3 7-6 (7-4).
Coco Gauff came back from one set and 0-3 down to beat Kaja Juvan 3-6 7-5 6-3. Gauff set up a first round match against Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who rallied from one set down to beat Australia’s Astra Sharma 3-6 6-2 6-1.
