Bulgarian teenager Sesil Karatancheva made light of producing 16 double faults to beat Marlene Weingartner in the opening round at Indian Wells.
She lost a first set tie-break but recovered to win 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 6-2 and set up a clash with Lindsay Davenport.
The 15-year-old faces a tough test against the top seed, who has won this title twice before.
Yoon-Jeong Cho, Daja Bedanova and Alyona Bondarenko also won their first round matches on Thursday.