Late-blooming Peng Shuai from China is the first player through to the third round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

The 21st seed trounced Magdalena Rybarikova from Slovakia 6-1 6-1 in the opening match on Wednesday on Hisense Arena.

The 28-year-old Peng recorded her best grand slam result at last year’s US Open when she advanced to the semi-finals before going down to former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, the No.10 seed, also won through to the third round at Melbourne Park with a minimum of fuss on Wednesday, beating Italian veteran Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-4.

World No.2 Maria Sharapova is next up on Rod Laver Arena in her clash with fellow Russian Alexandra Panova.