Australian Open Day Two: Williams Sisters Cruise, Aussies Battle Through

Defending champion Serena Williams and sister Venus safely advanced to the second round in Melbourne on Tuesday, along with No. 8 seed Jelena Jankovic and Aussie favourites Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua.

But three more seeds fell at the first hurdle on Day Two at Melbourne Park, with No. 18 Virginie Razzano and 25th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues crashing out in straight sets, and No. 23 Dominika Cibulkova losing to American Vania King.

Serena Williams, looking to win the first slam of the calendar year for the fifth time, defeated Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1 in one hour 13 minutes. Williams only faced one break point throughout the match, and unsurprisingly hit twice as many winners as her No. 71-ranked Polish opponent.

The top seed dropped just four points on her first serve in eight service games, and Radwanska had few weapons to deal with the American when she served to her forehand.

It still appears as though Serena's first real test could come against No. 32 Carla Suarez Navarro in Round Three or Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals.

Venus had a similarly easy time against Lucie Safarova, and never really looked tested in her 6-2, 6-2 victory. Her first serve percentage (47-percent) was down from what you’d normally expect, but considering this was her first match of 2010, that is not too surprising.

What did stand out from her victory is how well she closed out points at the net, losing just one point in a dozen attempts when she approached.

Sam Stosur beat qualifier Xinyun Han in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in one hour 35 minutes, and Casey Dellacqua rekindled her love affair with Melbourne after her 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus.

Stosur won 79-percent of the points on her first serve, and volleyed well when given the chance. After a comfortable 23-minute opening set, the No. 13 seed went off the boil in the Rod Laver Arena, leading 2-0 before dropping six of the nine games and forcing a deciding set.

Luckily for the Aussie faithful, the third set was almost identical to the first, featuring an early break of serve, and a more re-grouped, re-focused Stosur.

Stosur, in her tinted trademark sunglasses, said afterwards that she was pleased with how she played—going from dominant, to blowing cold, to finding her way again. She will need more of the same against Kristian Barrois in Round Two.

Meanwhile Dellacqua, who missed most of last year recovering from surgery, squandered three match points before finally seeing off Yakimova and booking her place against Karolina Sprem after two hours 17 minutes in the Margaret Court Arena.

Elsewhere, No. 8 seed Jelena Jankovic defeated Monica Niculsecu 6-4, 6-0, and 10th seed Agnieszka Radwanska brushed by German Tatjana Malek 6-1, 6-0 in 52 minutes.

Ana Ivanovic beat American Shenay Perry in straight sets two and three, and Marion Bartoli booked her place in Round Two with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Paraguay’s Rossana De Los Rios.

World No. 11 Bartoli didn’t look fantastic either at the baseline or the net, but she still proved too much for the No. 97 De Los Rios, and has now only dropped just seven games against the Paraguayan in their last three encounters.

Also booking their place in Round Two were seeds Alona Bondarenko, Nadia Petrova, Sabine Lisicki, Carla Suarez Navarro, Francesca Schiavone, and Aravane Rezai.

However, No. 18 seed Virginie Razzano lost to Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3, 25th-seeded Anabel Median Garrigues went down 6-3, 6-2 to Croatian Karolina Sprem, and No. 23 Dominika Cibulkova lost to Vania King on Court 13 (in a match that lasted three hours 10 minutes) 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5.

Highlighting Wednesday’s play is Elena Dementieva’s second-round clash with Justine Henin to lead off the night session in the Rod Laver Arena.

Henin is a very dangerous prospect for Sharapova. After plowing through Nadia Petrova, Melinda Czink, and Ana Ivanovic in Brisbane a fortnight ago, nobody will want to face the Belgian, who came just a tiebreaker away from upsetting champion Kim Clijsters.

Henin pulled out of Sydney last week with a left gluteal strain, but she looked match fit and ready to go on Monday in a fairly routine win over Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-1.

My other must-watch match on Day Three features No. 12 seed Flavia Pennetta against unseeded world No. 15 Yanina Wickmayer.

Wickmayer, who is 6’0” tall and strong off both wings, struggled through her first-round match against Alexandra Dulgheru 1-6, 7-5, 10-8 after being forced to fight through qualifying to even make it into the main draw.

Wickmayer looked impressive in Auckland two weeks ago when she won the tournament without dropping a set, and while there is a 50-50 chance of her beating Pennetta, there is a 100-percent chance that she's for real.

In other matches on Wednesday, second-seeded Dinara Safina and No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova will look for their place in the third round against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, respectively.

No. 15 Kim Clijsters will be in action against Tamarine Tanasugarn, and a commentators’ nightmare will unfold in the Hisense Arena as No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki goes against Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.