Barty, Osaka, Kvitova and Kenin all roll in Beijing victories

Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova and Sofia Kenin all advanced in straight sets to lead Tuesday’s early winners at the China Open in Beijing.

World No. 1 Barty eased past Yulia Putintseva, 6-4, 6-2, dropping serve just once in the 76-minute victory. The Australian is coming off a semifinal showing in Wuhan, where she was defeated by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who went on to defend her title. For a spot in the quarterfinals, Barty will meet 13th seed Sloane Stephens or home favorite Zheng Saisai.

Reigning Australian Open champion Osaka was ruthless in her second-round match, brushing aside qualifier Andrea Petkovic, 6-2, 6-0, in the pair's first meeting since the German came out on top over the then 16-year-old Japanese at Stanford five years ago. Osaka is coming off her second title of the season, following her first triumph on home soil in Osaka just over a week ago.

Kvitova, the 2014 finalist, defeated Kristina Mladenovic for the third time this season after closing out the Frenchwoman, 6-4, 6-4. The Czech, now 9-1 against Mladenovic, entered this week in sixth position for the Porsche Race to Shenzhen. Kvitova will take on US Open semifinalist Belinda Bencic in the third round. Earlier this year, Kvitova won their third-round encounter at the Australian Open, while Bencic avenged the loss to claim the Dubai trophy.

For the second time in as many weeks, Sofia Kenin eliminated Tokyo runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, this time with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Kenin converted six of her 11 break points, with the Russian donating 10 double faults in the process. The winner of 48 matches this year, the No. 15 seed will look to add to her total when she battles Elina Svitolina for the fourth time in 2019. Svitolina won in Indian Wells before the American won in consecutive weeks at Toronto and Cincinnati.