Ashleigh Barty has beaten Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 6-4 to progress to the second round at the Cincinnati WTA event.

Australian Barty, the world No.48, needed one hour and 24 minutes to beat her American opponent in their first career meeting on the WTA circuit.

Both women earned a start in the tournament through qualifying, and Barty will now play No.9 seed Venus Williams in the second round, after Williams beat fellow American Alison Riske 6-2 6-0, also on Tuesday.

Julia Goerges beat No.10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-4 in their first round clash and Dominika Cibulkova also progressed after she beat Ana Konjuh 5-7 7-5 6-2.

The other Australian woman in the singles draw at Cincinnati, Daria Gavrilova, won her first-round match on Monday against Kristina Mladenovic.