Daniil Medvedev downs Tommy Paul to ease into China Open second round
The Russian broke serve decisively in the fourth game and secured the opening set when Paul lofted a forehand long.
Medvedev then peppered the American with a barrage of powerful serves and forehands to close out the match with ease.
He will play Alex De Minaur in the second round after the Australian edged out Britain's Andy Murray in a third-set tie-break on Thursday.
"During the match, I played better and better," Medvedev said at a post-match press conference.
"I managed to serve better, to find better angles, some good returns, some good depth on my shots," the US Open runner-up said.
"It's never easy after a Grand Slam final to come back and play a big tournament, so (I'm) happy with it."
World number four Holger Rune downed Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 on Friday to set up a second-round tie with Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
And seventh-ranked Jannik Sinner fought out a 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3 win over Britain's Daniel Evans to secure a meeting with either Shang Juncheng or Yoshihito Nishioka.
This year's China Open is the first since 2019 after Beijing ditched its isolationist zero-Covid policy.
All of the eight top-ranked men are in action except world number one Novak Djokovic.
Second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz takes on qualifier Yannick Hanfmann on Friday evening.
