UPDATED: Destanee Aiava is the first winner of the new season after a straight-sets defeat of Vania King in Brisbane International qualifying on Friday.
The 18-year-old Australian, who fell 100 places to finish her 2018 season at world No.250, saw off American King 6-3 6-4.
It was a promising turnaround in form after her opening-round defeat to Abbie Myers at the Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs in Melbourne last month.
Aiava first announced herself at the Brisbane International two years ago when she won through qualifying before beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands in her WTA main draw debut.
She next meets Luxembourg’s No.8 seed Mandy Minella in qualifying. The 33-year-old Minella continued her comeback after the birth of her daughter, Emma Lina, with a narrow 3-6 6-1 7-6(9) victory over Japan’s Kurumi Nara.
Minella saved a match point at 3-5 down in the third set and two more in the tie-break before clinching the result on her second match point.
It was a mixed day for the Aussies as Lizette Cabrera (l. to Karolina Muchova) and Naiktha Bains (l. to Viktorija Golubic) fell in straight sets at the first hurdle, but Zoe Hives joined Aiava in the second round of qualifying with the biggest win of her career.
The 22-year-old was coming off a semi-final run at last month’s Australian Open Wildcard Playoff ad recovered from a set down to beat former world No.12 Yanina Wickmayer, of Belgium, 4-6 6-3 6-2.
She will next face Russian Anastasia Potapova, a three-set winner over American Nicole Gibbs.
It was a clean sweep for the Czechs on day 1 of qualifying as 20-year-old Marie Bouzkova and 22-year-old Muchova followed former top 50 singles player Lucie Hradecka into the second round.
Two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Hradecka denied 17-year-old Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-4 6-3, while Bouzkova beat Swiss Conny Perrin and Muchova easily accounted for home hope Cabrera.
Hradecka will face Brisbane International 2011 runner-up Andrea Petkovic for a place in the final round of qualifying.
The German former world No.9 held off Russian 19-year-old Sofya Zhuk, 6-2 3-6 6-2.
It was a clean sweep also for the Ukrainians on day 1, with Kateryna Kozlova joining fast-rising Dayana Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk on the winners’ list.
Seventh seed Kozlova easily beat Allie Kiick 6-4 6-4, second-seeded 18-year-old Yastremska fought back to deny Varvara Lepchenko 3-6 6-1 6-4, while the youngest player in the draw, 16-year-old Kostyuk, finished strongly to beat Heather Watson 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3.
First-round men’s singles qualifying begins on Saturday with free public entry to the Queensland Tennis Centre.