Former world number ones Simona Halep and Victoria Azarenka advanced to the second round of the Internazionali d'Italia on Monday, while Coco Gauff scored an impressive win over Angelique Kerber.
Halep was a 6-4 6-4 winner against Alize Cornet, who defeated her in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, and will face seventh seed Danielle Collins next.
It was only the Romanian's second win in her six matches against Cornet, though she needed two chances to serve out both sets.
Azarenka needed just 68 minutes to see of Viktorija Golubic, dropping just five points behind her first serve and winning 12 out of 14 from the final three games to complete a 6-3 6-0 triumph.
It only took Gauff two minutes more to see off the challenge of Kerber, who has now won just two of her eight matches on the WTA Tour this year.
Leylah Fernandez came from behind to claim an impressive 1-6 6-2 6-2 victory over 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, while Madison Keys went down 6-4 6-4 to Anhelina Kalinina.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich's 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 win over Veronika Kudermetova secured her a second-round match against second seed Paula Badosa.
Belinda Bencic overcame Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-4 6-2, Shuai Zhang set up a match with Aryna Sabalenka by beating Martina Trevisan 6-4 6-2, and Petra Martic will face Anett Kontaveit after besting Karolina Muchova 6-2 3-6 6-1.
There were also wins for Daria Kasatkina and Yulia Putintseva before rain interrupted Ajla Tomljanovic's match against Camila Giorgi when the Australian was 6-3 4-2 up.
Medvedev rallies to straight-sets win in Shanghai opener
Daniil Medvedev held off a stern test from Thiago Seyboth Wild to edge through his Shanghai Masters opener on Friday.
The Russian won the tight contest in straight sets, prevailing 7-5 7-5 in just under two hours.
Seyboth Wild started brightly, superbly defending five break points in the opening game before breaking Medvedev to take a 3-1 lead.
A three-game winning run at the end of the first set was enough for the world number five to edge in front.
The Brazilian made another strong start in the second but was his own worst enemy as he racked up 47 unforced errors throughout the match to Medvedev's 28.
Despite going down a break again, Medvedev rallied, staying patient to mount another comeback and book his place in the next round against Matteo Arnaldi.
Data Debrief: Patience pays off
Last year, Seyboth Wild stunned Medvedev in the opening round at Roland Garros, as his high-risk, high-reward method paid off and he earned the win with 69 winners and 77 unforced errors.
Despite pushing the 28-year-old all the way, it did not garner the same reward this time around, despite getting 29 winners to Medvedev's 17.
Sabalenka stunned by Muchova in Beijing quarter-finals
Karolina Muchova secured an upset at the China Open, snapping Aryna Sabalenka's 15-match winning streak to reach the semi-finals.
The Czech prevailed in two hours and 48 minutes with a 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-4 win over the number one seed on Friday.
Muchova started strong, forcing Sabalenka to defend three break points in the opening game, but they were evenly matched throughout.
Sabalenka almost took the first set, but Muchova held her nerve, successfully fighting back against two set points before taking the tie-break.
The Belarusian looked back to her free-flowing best in the second though, earning two breaks as she forced the decider in comfortable fashion.
Sabalenka took an early lead in the final set, but from 4-2 down, Muchova clawed her way back, going on a four-game winning streak at the end to book a meeting with Qinwen Zheng or Mirra Andreeva in the final four.
Data Debrief: Czech mate
Given Sabalenka's recent hot streak, this does look like an upset, but it is actually pretty run-of-the-mill for Muchova.
She has now won her last three matches against Sabalenka in WTA events, defeating her at Cincinnati, Roland Garros 2023 and China Open 2024.
Excluding the BJK Cup, only Iga Swiatek (85.3%) has a higher winning percentage than Muchova on hard-court in WTA events during 2024 (84.6%, 11-2), surpassing Sabalenka (82.5%, 33-7).
The 28-year-old has reached just her second career semi-final and is the player with the fewest WTA-1000 wins during the season before the start of the China Open (one) to reach this stage of the tournament.
Wawrinka reflects on 'tough year' after reaching ATP 1000 hard-court milestone
Stan Wawrinka reflected on a "really tough year" after racking up a new ATP 1000 milestone with his first-round victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the Shanghai Masters.
The three-time grand slam champion secured a 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) victory in China in what was the first ATP meeting between the two.
According to Opta Ace, it represented Wawrinka's landmark 100th hard-court victory in ATP 1000 events, becoming the 12th player to do so.
Speaking on court after the victory, the veteran 39-year-old said: "It's been a really tough year so far, but I'm not getting younger so I'm trying to keep pushing myself.
"I'm happy with the match. I think it was a really good level. I was playing really good, one of the best matches of the year for me.
"He's such an aggressive player. It was great to be here, so much support here, so I'm enjoying my time in China."
Wawrinka, who only had five ATP wins this year before featuring in Shanghai, next faces Flavio Cobolli in round two.
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