Top seed Svitolina was involved in the late match but had little difficulty dealing with the challenge of Priscilla Hon, recording a 6-2 6-3 victory over her Australian opponent.

The Ukrainian provided a dominant response after early defeats at both the Wuhan Open and Chinese Open and, with defending champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova absent, will fancy her chances of taking the title.

Two-time grand slam champion Muguruza, making her Hong Kong debut, was also comfortable as she saw off Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3 6-1.

Daria Gavrilova, last year's beaten finalist, came from behind to defeat Zarina Diyas in a three-set contest, while sixth seed Wang Qiang cruised past Zhang Ling.

Zhang Shuai recorded a straight-sets win over Sabina Sharipova, as Samantha Stosur was beaten by Japan's Nao Hibino.