Emma Raducanu brushed aside Olga Danilovic at the Cincinnati Open to make a confident start with her new coach.
The British number one has added Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig to her team on a full-time basis as she prepares for the upcoming US Open.
And the surprise 2021 champion in New York cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win in her first match since the Spaniard came aboard.
Danilovic beat British number three Katie Boulter in the first round while Raducanu had a bye, and the Serbian number one broke Raducanu to love in the first game of Saturday’s match.
After four breaks of serve between the pair in the opening five games, Raducanu came from 30-0 down to grab another and make it 5-3, before serving out the set with an ace.
In the second set, Raducanu, 22, drew errors from her 24-year-old opponent and eventually earned a break for 3-2.
From that point, the world number 39, ranked four spots higher than Danilovic, did not drop another game as she booked her spot in the third round in Ohio.
“I’m really building some momentum. I’m really happy with how I’ve stayed pretty consistent over the last few months,” said Raducanu.
“I still feel like there’s a long way to go but just working hard behind the scenes, putting a lot of hours in and hoping I can trust in that.”
Raducanu will next face world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her at Wimbledon last month in two tight sets.
Sabalenka, playing for the first time since losing in the Wimbledon semi-finals, progressed 7-5 6-1 against Czech Marketa Vondrousova.
Sabalenka faced and saved 12 break points in the match before securing victory.
Earlier, Poland’s Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek eased through to the last 32 with a 6-1 6-4 win over Russian Anastasia Potapova.
Australian Open champion Madison Keys of the United States saved two match points before beating Germany’s Eva Lys 1-6 6-3 7-6 (7-1).