The 16-year-old took just 52 minutes to knock out Chinese qualifier Zi Yan, 6-1, 6-4.

Golovin was ranked 355 a year ago but advanced to 27th in the world by the end of November on the back of fourth-round appearances at Wimbledon and the Australian Open as well as a final in Birmingham.

It was the third biggest WTA rankings improvement for the year.

"It's very positive and I'm especially happy that now I'll be seeded at tournaments such as the grand slams so I can play against the best players," Golovin said.

"When you're ranked outside the top 100 it's really hard to play the challengers and the qualifiers, so I'm really happy that I got through that area really fast."

Golovin is only allowed to enter 18 tournaments by the WTA this year because of age restrictions.