A day after second and third seeds Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula, making their debuts in this event, lost their opening round-robin matches, the 21-year-old Pole, who won the French and US Open titles this year, beat Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3 in the Nancy Richey Group at Dickies Arena.

"I think I started pretty well and that gave me a lot of confidence," Swiatek said on the Tennis Channel.

"But you have to be really careful and patient against Dasha. 

"I wanted to play in a really solid way but put pressure on my opponent."

Kasatkina is Russian, but playing as a neutral with the country's flag banned from WTA events over the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile Coco Gauff of the host nation the United States, also making her WTA Finals debut, lost her opening match 6-4, 6-3 to France’s world number six Caroline Garcia, who will be Świątek’s next opponent.

The tournament features the eight best players of the year, with the top two in the respective Nancy Richey and Tracy Austin pools advancing to the semi-finals.

The tournament, which will conclude on November 7, was initially supposed to be held in Shenzhen in China after a deal was struck for the city to host the event from 2019 to 2028.

However, it did not stage the 2020 and 2021 editions due to COVID-19 restrictions.

It was then announced in December of last year that the WTA was suspending all tournaments in China and Hong Kong because of concern over the Chinese Government's treatment of tennis player Peng Shuai.

She accused Zhang Gaoli, a retired Chinese vice-premier and high-ranking Chinese Communist Party member, of sexual assault prior to disappearing.

Peng made several appearances at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics but concern for her welfare persists.