WASHINGTON, March 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhang Shuai eased past Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California on Wednesday.

30-year-old Zhang, who recently won the women's doubles title at the Australian Open, took 68 minutes to send Kuzmova packing 6-2, 6-4 after breaking serve five times.

Zhang will now take on 22nd seed Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia, who enjoyed a bye in the opening round.