TIANJIN, China – Agnieszka Radwanska made a confident start to her defense of the Tianjin Open, swatting aside Tatjana Maria in two one-sided sets on Wednesday.

Fresh from her victory in Beijing over the weekend, Radwanska needed little more than an hour to wrap up a 6-1, 6-2 victory – her 50th of the season – and set up a second-round meeting against Evgeniya Rodina.

“Firstly, I’m very happy to win my match pretty quickly. It’s good to have the opening round in two sets and be fresh for the next round,” Radwanska said. “I’m very happy that I could keep it up and play at the same level as at the China Open.”

Twelve months ago, Radwanska touched down in Tianjin amidst a desperate late scramble for points to secure a place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. While the anxiety this time has diminished, her desire to be successful has not: “This year is much better. I already qualified in China Open so of course there is less pressure. But you still want to win the tournament, still want to play your best game, just a little less pressure.”

Naomi Osaka continued her scintillating run of form by brushing qualifier Lucie Hradecka aside, 6-2, 7-6(4), to reach the quarterfinals. The Czech player took the Japanese teenager to a tie-break in the second set but could not hold her off for too long.

Osaka had already beaten eighth seed Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-4, 6-2, in round one. This run in Tianjin comes towards the end of a great year for her in which she reached the third round of three of the four Slams, and made the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open – an achievement for which she was voted WTA Breakthrough of the Month.

The WTA Newcomer of the Year nominee now faces Svetlana Kuznetsova after she saw off Donna Vekic, 7-5, 6-4.

Elsewhere, Han Xinyun won the first match of the day on Centre Court, beating wildcard Wang Yafan 7-5, 6-3.