Bianca Andreescu said that she has “forgotten how it feels to lose” after the US Open champion reeled off her 14th victory in a row on Monday in Beijing.
The 19-year-old Canadian beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the China Open first round despite a second-set wobble.
But Simona Halep became the first major casualty in the Chinese capital, beaten by Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova with the Romanian struggling once more with a back injury.
Andreescu’s run of victories has brought her the US Open and her home Canadian Open in recent weeks, propelling her into the limelight.
“I wanted to just keep the momentum going,” said the teenager, after her first match since stunning Serena in the US Open final.
“I’m on a roll right now, hopefully I can just keep it up because I think it gives me a lot of confidence,” added the world number six, who qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals.
“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but I kind of forgot how it feels to lose, which I think is a good thing.”
In round two the Canadian plays Elise Mertens, the world number 23 from Belgium.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Halep lost 6-2, 6-3 in 64 minutes to bring her campaign to an early end.
She was far from her best as she went down meekly to Russia’s 38th-ranked Alexandrova in the second round.
“I didn’t recover well after my first match so it was very tough for me to play and she played really well,” Halep said.
Caroline Wozniacki swatted aside Lauren Davis of the United States, 6-1, 6-3, to give her the perfect start.