On Sunday, defending champion Coco Gauff will face fellow American Jessica Pegula in the second game of the Stephanie Graf division, where Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek won on the opening day.
Sabalenka has qualified for the year-end finals for the past five years but has never won the championship. In 2022, she finished runner-up to Caroline Garcia.
The 29-year-old was imperious against Paolini, who was the only player to compete in singles and doubles.
Sabalenka hit 11 aces, scored 66% of her first serve points, and hit 24 winners to defeat the agile Paolini.
The two broke each other’s serve in the first set, and then Sabalenka exerted her strength, winning six consecutive games to seal the victory, and led 4-0 in the second set.
Paolini hit the ground running in the next game and evened Sabalenka, but a strong first serve kept Sabalenka in the match and Paolini posed little threat after that.
Earlier, third seeds Erin Rutliff of New Zealand and Gabriella Dabrowski of Canada began their doubles journey with a 6-3 7-6 (7-2) victory over Russian players Mira Andreeva and Diana Schneider.
Elsewhere, Canada’s 19-year-old Victoria Mboko continued her breakthrough year, beating Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 7-5 6-7 (9-11) 6-2 to win the Hong Kong Open title.
It was Mboko’s second title of the season following a stunning victory in Montreal in August.
