Samantha Stosur may be in for a tough second round showdown in Dubai, as she's set to play red-hot Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh.
The 19-year-old world No.36 annihilated Chinese world No.30 Shuai Zhang 6-0 6-1 in 49 minutes in her tournament opener and has looked good in 2017.
She made the final in Auckland before losing in three sets to Daria Gavrilova in the second round of the Australian Open.
Konjuh's only loss since came at the hands of world No.4 Simona Halep in the second round of the St Petersburg Open, and she has climbed 12 rankings spots since the start of the year.
Stosur had one day earlier booked her place in the second round with a 6-3 6-3 win over Chinese qualifier Kai-Lin Zhang.
The pair have never before played each other.
It was a day out for the teenagers in the tournament with American Catherine Bellis also advancing.
Bellis victimised 17th-seed and St Petersburg finalist Yulia Putintseva 6-1 7-5, reeling off seven straight games to take the match and second set, after being down 5-0.
"I got myself in a bit of trouble in the second set, but I'm glad I got out of it," the 17-year-old Bellis said.
"I just thought to myself, stick to my game plan, just keep steady, I can come back."
Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig also advanced to the second round, although in much different fashion.
It took the Puerto Rican over two hours to get past Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 4-6 6-4 and book a match with French 15th seed Caroline Garcia.
In another win for the youngsters Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens beat Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-2.
In late action 10th seeded Dane, Caroline Wozniacki advanced with a 6-2 7-5 win over Daria Kasaktine, while 13th seed Kiki Bertens fell to America's Christina McHale 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 6-4.
Others to advance were the Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko, Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, Chinese wildcard Shuai Peng, Japan's Misaki Doi and American Lauren Davis.
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