MUMBAI (Reuters) - Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt beat Taiwan's Ti Chen 6-3 6-3 on Thursday to reach the second round of the Mumbai Open.

The Australian took an hour and 18 minutes to dismantle his opponent who is ranked 300 places lower in a match that was called off on Wednesday due to rain.

Second-seeded Hewitt was scheduled to play his second round match later on Thursday after intermittent rain over the past two days had led to a backlog of matches.

Hewitt had pulled out of Sunday's Davis Cup singles rubber against Serbia's Novak Djokovic with a virus as Australia, winners of 28 Davis Cup titles, were relegated from the elite world group.

The 26-year-old started slowly before breaking Chen in the seventh and ninth games to take the opening set in 38 minutes.

The Australian raced to a 3-0 lead against his 23-year-old opponent, before briefly easing up then closing out the match.