BEIJING, China - No.1 seed Ashleigh Barty posted her first ever win at the China Open with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Yulia Putintseva in one hour and 15 minutes to move into the third round.

The Australian, who received a performance bye after reaching the Wuhan semifinals last week, is making her second appearance in Beijing, having lost her second-round opener to Elina Svitolina in 2017, and for the second time this season was able to outduel Putintseva in an intriguing battle of court craft and point construction, striking 23 winners and seven aces over the match.

"It was solid today without being fantastic," Barty assessed her form afterwards. "It was what we needed to do today. There were times where it was pretty good and there were times where it was challenging. Pretty happy with how... we were able to get on a roll in the second set a little bit there."

Barty also mused on the court conditions aiding her aggressive plays: "You get rewarded for good depth and good shots," she said. "You get value for shots. You have to work hard, you have to be patient, wait for the right ball. It's a court that I think is tough to neutralize and play defense over a long period... It's definitely a court that you get your bang for buck and you get value when you try to take the initiative."

Barty had needed to come from a set down to survive the Kazakh in the third round of Madrid this year, but dictated with a range of precise forehand winners and superior serving to maintain the edge throughout today's opener. After an initial exchange of breaks, the Roland Garros champion found her groove, particularly when it came to out-maneouvring Putintseva in a series of slice-heavy tests to find the space to drive through her forehand.

Putintseva was able to find some joy with her own ability to mix up play, with the dropshot paying frequent dividends, but paid the price for a double fault and two of her looser errors to drop serve in the fifth game - a break that would prove crucial. Although the World No.37, as tenacious as ever, was able to save two set points on her own serve, Barty - who won 78% of her first serve points in the first set - made no mistake in the next game, powering through another big off forehand to take her third opportunity.

Carelessness would cost Putintseva in the second set, too. The Nurnberg champion, whose 22 unforced errors over the course of the day made for an uncharacteristically high total, nonetheless stuck with Barty in the opening stages - but a poor sequence of errant groundstrokes quickly handed the World No.1 an opening in the fifth game, one that she took in style by conjuring up a sliced winner off a net cord that had not seemed to favor her.

The 23-year-old would go from strength to strength thereafter, demonstrating more excellent reactions to put away a volley to hold for 4-2, and to essay a remarkable counterdrop to carve out points for the double break lead - taken as Putintseva lost control of another forehand.

Though Barty would need to save a break point in order to serve out the win, that would be the briefest of open doors for Putintseva: in response, she would slam down three consecutive service winners to seal victory, and a third-round clash with either No.13 seed Sloane Stephens or San Jose champion Zheng Saisai.