The pair had not met on court before, but both had crashed out of round one of the Tokyo Olympics, Kontaveit after losing in straight sets to Maria Sakkari (Greece), though Pegula, 27, ranked 30 in the world, reached the quarter finals of the Australian Open this year, and the same stage in two high-level WTA tournaments in Dubai and Rome as well.

Kontaveit took the lead 5:2 after breaking Pegula's serve twice, and while the American fought back to five apiece, Kontaveit broke again, taking the set 7:5 in the end.

However, the Estonian's first service success rate dramatically fell away in the second set, from 73 percent in set one, to 56 percent, and Pegula broke her serve three times, to take the set 6:3 in a little under 40 minutes.

The decisive set continued in a similar vein, with Pegula soon 4:1 up. While Kontaveit, 25, from Tallinn, almost drew level at 3:4, she had her serve broken once again, with Pegula holding hers in the next game to wrap things up.

The entire encounter, at the IGA Stadium, lasted just under two hours.

Pegula will face the winner of the round one encounter between Caroline Garcia (France) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia).

Kontaveit is currently ranked 29th in the world. She parted company with her coach, Ain Suurthal, after June's Eastbourne Tournament, where she made the final. She had only worked with Suurthal for a few weeks; her previous coach had been Briton Nigel Sears.

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