Garbiñe Muguruza opened up her title defence at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 win over Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova.
The fourth seeded Spaniard won the tricky encounter in 2 hours and 24 minutes.
In the second round, she will take on Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, who defeated former World No.1 and 2010 Dubai finalist Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-4.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beat Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1, while Tunisia's Ons Jabeur overcame former World No.2 Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
Elsewhere, no.9 seed Danielle Collins of the US retired from her first-round match against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic due to dizziness (2-6, 3-0).
The 38th-ranked Vondrousova will next face Russia's Varvara Gracheva, who defeated Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-5.
Hyderabad's bowling depth, Delhi's late calm lift IPL tempo
Lionel Messi's brace helps Inter Miami slay Rapids in front of huge crowd
Real Sociedad beat Atletico Madrid on penalties to win Copa del Rey
Cunha strike earns Man United hard-fought 1-0 win at Chelsea
One driver dead, six injured in Nuerburgring race crash
