Bedene, 27, forced eight break points in the match, converting three to beat the world number 77 in 65 minutes.
The event is Bedene's first grass-court outing after a good clay campaign took him from 94th to 52nd in the world.
He will play either fourth seed Gilles Muller or Italy's Andreas Seppi next.
British and world number one Andy Murray will start his grass-court campaign at the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club next week alongside national number two Kyle Edmund.
Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans withdrew from the Nottingham Open on Monday with injury and is having treatment before the start of Wimbledon on 3 July.
British number four Aljaz Bedene made the quarter-finals of the Ricoh Open tournament in the Netherlands with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over the United States' Ernesto Escobedo.