Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen beat former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells on Friday.

Eighth-seeded Zheng secured her first victory against Azarenka in their three encounters. Having received a first-round bye, Zheng marked a strong start to her campaign.

"It's my first time beating Azarenka, such a great player. I tried to play solid, hit a lot of rally with her because Azarenka is very consistent. If I don't take my chance, you can see in the second set, I was 2-0 up, but she came back," Zheng said. "She beat me twice when I was 19 and 21, so I'm very happy to win this match."

In the ATP 1000 Indian Wells Masters second round, China's Buyunchaokete fell to fifth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia at 6-2, 6-2.