Maria Sharapova has made up for lost time due to rain this week, powering into the second round of the Tianjin Open with a 6-4 6-2 over Irina Begu.
The five-time grand-slam champion, playing after being granted a wildcard, overcame seven double-faults on Wednesday to advance in the city, 110km south of Beijing.
Sharapova improved to 3-0, head to head with the Romanian, who became the Russian's opening opponent when Caroline Garcia withdrew injured after winning the Beijing title over new world No.1 Simona Halep.
After reaching the third round in Beijing, Sharapova maintained her record of never losing a set to Begu.
"It's been a long wait for everyone - it hasn't been easy," Sharapova said of two days of delays. "I had a first practice outdoors, and then I think it rained for 70 hours straight, unfortunately for the players.
"The good thing about this tournament is it has indoors; it's pretty state-of-the-art. I trained at the National Tennis Centre as well, which was very impressive. I was still able to maintain good practice sessions."
Sharapova played hit-or-miss with her forehand, dropping serve on a break point in the opening set but getting it straight back for 4-4 before taking the set two games later.
The 30-year-old began with a break in the second set and had to fight through a pair of double-faults to take a 3-0 lead as she moved to the win.
Sharapova next plays Poland's Magda Linette, a 3-6 6-3 7-5 winner over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine as the event struggles to get back on schedule.
In other first-round action, Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain edged Australian Arina Rodionova 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-4.
China's Zhu Lin stunned Czech No.2 seed Petra Kvitova 6-4 5-7 6-4, while Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil) beat Croatian fourth seed Donna Vekic 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2.
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