Former top-ranked Naomi Osaka started the China Open with a routine 6-3, 6-2 victory over Lucia Bronzetti of Italy to mark her first match with new coach Patrick Mouratoglou in positive style. The four-time Grand Slam champion was the headline act on the opening day and showed her class in closing out the first-round match against the 77th-ranked Italian player in 83 minutes.

Naomi Osaka admitted that she was initially hesitant to hire Patrick Mouratoglou as her coach because she wondered how it would all look if she worked with such "a big persona" but then got to know him a bit and realized that it was probably worth giving a shot.