Roger Federer made a smooth start to his bid for a 13th grand slam title with a 6-0 6-3 6-0 win over Diego Hartfield in the Australian Open first round.

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The Swiss world number one and defending champion showed few signs of rust in brushing aside the Argentine, breezing through the first set without losing a game and clinching victory in 74 minutes.

"I'm happy with my form tonight," Federer said. "The beginning was tough, I knew he had a good serve so it was a bit of a surprise to have such an extreme result.

"I didn't have any lapses mentally and played pretty tough. I served especially well and that is always important for me."

Federer, seeking his fourth Australian Open title and third in a row, was playing his first match of the year and fell break point down in his opening service game.

He quickly took control, however, peppering Hartfield with a succession of rasping groundstrokes and pinpoint serves.

Hartfield, the world number 107, made the champion work a little in the second set but was simply outclassed by the top seed, who conjured up 38 winners on the way to booking a second-round match against experienced Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

"Santoro is a tricky player to play against, he has incredible experience and is a great tactician," Federer added. "But I think I know how to play against him."

Third seed Novak Djokovic made a confident start to his title bid with an emphatic 6-0 6-2 7-6 win over German Benjamin Becker in the first round, while home favourite Lleyton Hewitt also put in a dominant performance in his opener.

The 20-year-old Serb won the first seven games of the match, taking the opening set in 22 minutes, and although Becker forced a tiebreak in the third set, Djokovic was always in control.

He clinched victory when his opponent sent a crosscourt forehand wide before entertaining the crowd during his on-court interview with an impersonation of women's fifth seed Maria Sharapova.

Becker, who ended Andre Agassi's career by beating him at the 2006 U.S. Open, finally held his serve at the fourth attempt and briefly threatened a recovery when he broke Djokovic to love at the start of the third set.

Last year's US Open runner-up quickly regrouped by breaking Becker to love to level at 2-2 but the German refused to lie down, forcing a tiebreak and racing into a 3-0 lead.

Djokovic stayed calm, however, winning the tiebreak 7-5 to clinch victory in just over two hours.

Djokovic, seeking his first grand slam title, plays Simone Bolelli in the second round after the Italian beat American qualifier Rajeev Ram 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-4 2-6 6-3.

Australia's Hewitt advanced to the second round with an easy 6-0 6-3 6-0 victory over Belgium's Steve Darcis.

The former world number one, who had a poor buildup to the year's first grand slam with early exits in Adelaide and Sydney, barely needed to get out of first gear and broke the 23-year-old at will.

Darcis only held serve twice in the match. The only other game he won was when he broke Hewitt's serve in the fifth game of the second set.

Hewitt intimidated the Belgian, making his first appearance in the tournament, from the outset on Rod Laver Arena, and forced him into 21 errors, particularly on his backhand.

The Australian did not let out his trademark fist pump and "C'Mon" until the fourth game of the second set, though it was doubtful whether he needed much crowd support to provide the inspiration required to dispatch his 83rd-ranked opponent.

Hewitt next meets Uzbek Denis Istomin, who beat Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-3 6-7 (1) 7-6 (4) 6-1.

Last year's finalist Fernando Gonzalez of Chile got his campaign underway with a 6-4 7-6 7-2 victory over Konstantinios Economidis.

In one of Tuesday's early upsets, Dutchman Robin Haase eliminated 17th seeded Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 (2) 6-3 6-0 7-6 (1) in a successful Melbourne debut.

And later on 30th seed Radek Stepanek squandered a two-set lead to crash out to fast-serving American Vince Spadea 2-6 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-3.

Tenth seed David Nalbandian, one of the outside favourites for the title, had a far easier time in his first round match defeating Australian Robert Smeets 6-1 6-1 7-6 (2).

The Argentine who was forced out of the Kooyong Classic warm-up event last week with back spasms, proved beyond doubt his fitness was not an issue with the thumping win.

Former finalist Marcos Baghdatis also advanced to the second round, beating former champion Thomas Johansson 7-6 (0) 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Spain's fifth seed David Ferrer eased into second round with 6-2 6-2 6-1 victory over Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Reuters