The Dutch, bidding for a third consecutive title, made light work of South Korea in their opener and they looked in good form once again, dispatching the American side in confident fashion in Pool A.

They got off to a slow start, however, and allowed the US to take the lead early on thanks to a converted Catherine Caro penalty corner.

The Netherlands managed to recover and eventually proved too strong for the American side to continue their 100 per cent record.

In the other match in the pool, South Korea recovered from their humbling at the hands of the Dutch by beating Zimbabwe, making their first appearance at the event since 2005, 6-0.

Teams in Pool B made their entrance today as Argentina, runners-up to The Netherlands in 2013, began with a narrow 3-1 win over Japan.

Agustina Gorzelany, Lucina von der Heyde and Maria Ortiz got on the scoresheet for the South American team.

"This was a really tough game to play - Japan are a very good team," said Argentinian Olympian Maria Granatto. 

"Of course the first matches are always difficult but the most important thing was to win today."

European Championships silver medallists Germany also got their campaign off to a winning start as they thrashed France 10-1.

"We were very nervous, but we became better and better as the game went on," Germany captain Elisa Gräve said.

"We had an aim of scoring many goals, we achieved that so that’s great.

"When you have a win in your bag it’s pretty good for your confidence which will be crucial for our next game against Argentina."

In Pool D, China picked up their second consecutive 2-2 draw, this time against New Zealand, while Spain got their first victory as they beat Belgium 4-0.