Rate it!

11 votes

American Serena Williams made a bright start to her Australian Open campaign with a 6-3 6-2 win over China's Yuan Meng.

Williams cruised to victory in 75 minutes, proving too good for Yuan despite making 31 unforced errors in the match.

Williams won the Australian Open in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and is seeded second for this year's event.

Venus Williams joined her younger sister in the second round after an enigmatic 6-3 6-3 victory over Germany's Angelique Kerber .

Sixth seed Venus, who is still seeking her first title at Melbourne Park despite having five Wimbledon and two US Open titles, raced to a 5-0 first-set lead against the world number 100, who then won the next three games and saved a set point.

The 28-year-old Williams, however, snapped out of her funk to hold serve and take the first set before Kerber put up a tougher challenge in the second, having two opportunities on serve to take a 4-1 lead.

Williams again responded to level at 3-3 and broke to take a 4-3 lead, at which point Kerber sought treatment on her heavily strapped right knee.

The injury break only delayed the inevitable and the world number six steamrolled to victory by holding serve and breaking to love to seal the win in 80 minutes.

World number four Elena Dementieva survived the scorching heat and a feisty counter-attack from Germany's Kristina Barrois to advance to the second round.

Dementieva, who is unbeaten so far this year after claiming titles in Auckland and Sydney, extended her winning streak to 11 matches with the 7-6 2-6 6-1 victory.

Barrois had run riot in the second set then held two break points in the first game of the third with an opportunity to upset the Beijing Olympic champion, before the Russian rallied in temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius.

Dementieva will next meet Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

Standing in the way of a possible Williams semi-final are Dementieva, in the same part of the draw as Venus, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who battled for 100 minutes before downing Australia's Anastasia Rodionova.

The eighth seeded Russian, in Serena's quarter of the draw, beat the Australian 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska was an early casualty, however, falling 7-6 4-6 6-1 to Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.

Other players to progress included 13th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, while China's unseeded Peng Shuai sent Italian 28th seed Francesca Schiavone packing. Wimbledon semi-finalist Zheng Jie beat France's Camille Pin.

Amelie Mauresmo, the champion in 2006, showed no signs of the thigh strain that forced her out of the Brisbane International in her 6-4 6-3 win over Olga Govortsova.

See the Australian Open live through to the final on February 1 on the Eurosport Player. Access live action each day from up to five different courts in Melbourne and catch up on the big games through video on demand. Click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

AFP / Reuters