Third seed Simona Halep opened her Australian Open campaign with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Karin Knapp on Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
Halep dropped just one game in her first-round match in 2014, but her opener 12 months on saw her lose the first two as Knapp stated her early intentions.
But the Romanian recovered quickly, breaking straight back after a tame Knapp volley left Halep with an open court to pass on break point.
Knapp's early downfall was missing what appeared to be simple put-away winners in the forecourt.
The Italian was much more comfortable engaging in the baseline battle with the equally-capable Halep, who found her feet by stringing together four straight games to lead by a break.
In a sign of the closeness of the contest, though, each of the first seven games saw the 30-30 scoreline called out - but Halep was able to convert her advantage for the first set in 45 minutes.
Knapp's unforced error count hit 23 at the culmination of the first set.
Over-hitting was one of Knapp's concerns. Another was finding an easy hold on her serve, which was not forthcoming against Halep, who produced seven breaks for the contest.
When Knapp pulled two forehands wide from deuce, Halep had a break lead in the second set - 3-1 - and she cruised thereafter to wrap up victory in one hour 28 minutes.