Ana Ivanovic overcame a moment of panic at the Australian Open before claiming her place in the second round.

The Serbian found herself in trouble as Sorana Cristea of Romania served for the first set, but the fourth seed pulled herself together just in time to clinch a 7-5 6-3 victory.

"Today, it's no secret in the first set I was panicking a little bit and trying to find my game," Ivanovic said.

"But I'm really happy to be through. I can work on this for the next matches."

The 17-year-old Cristea, ranked a career-high 106, surprised Ivanovic and only a lack of experience prevented her from really pushing the fourth seed.

Ivanovic, the runner-up at the French Open last June, raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set and though Cristea hit back to 5-3, Ivanovic held firm to ease into the second round.

"I didn't know what to expect in the beginning," she said.

"But I'm really happy I managed to fight through that first set. It wasn't easy. She's a new, up-and-coming player. She was a tough opponent. I think she has a bright future in front of her."

Former champion and seventh seed Venus Williams also made it though with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Chinese youngster Zhi Yan.

After losing the first two games of the opening set, Williams then bounced back without falling in another.

But, after repeating the trick in the second, she then suffered a wobble at 5-2 up, double faulting three times before eventually letting her class show through and going into the second round 6-2 7-5 with a dominant final service game.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova trounced Nathalie Dechy of France 6-3 6-1.

The Russian former US Open champion found herself an early break down in the first set but recovered strongly to record an impressive victory.

Dechy, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2005, had won three of the pair's four previous meetings but her opponent's greater power proved the difference as the match progressed.

The second set was all one-way traffic and Kuznetsova wrapped up victory in 64 minutes to set up a meeting with Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, who beat Belarusian Olga Govortsova.

Kuznetsova's sixth seeded compatriot Anna Chakvetadze also advanced to the second round when Germany's Andrea Petkovic retired with a right knee injury in the first game of their match.

The 20-year-old Petkovic, ranked 92, suffered the injury when stretching for a forehand and after treatment, the tearful German told Chakvetadze she was unable to continue.

Russian Chakvetadze was a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park last year.

Ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova survived a decent work out before downing American Vania King 6-3 7-5.

Hungarian 20th seed Agnes Szavay, meanwhile, fell at the first hurdle losing to Russian Ekaterina Makarova 3-6 6-4 7-5.

French number one and Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli lost to Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-7 (3) 6-3 6-4 in a disappointing day for the tenth seed.

Russian 16th seed Dinara Safina also lost in the opening round 7-6 4-6 6-2 to unheralded German Sabine Lisicki.

Reuters