Serena Williams has produced a ruthless first-round display to kick off her Australian Open campaign in style at the Brisbane International.
The world No.3 took just 59 minutes to brush aside fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 6-2 6-1 at Pat Rafter Arena.
Amid blustery conditions which often disrupted play, the 15-time grand slam champion completely outclassed the world No.21.
Lepchenko did start brightly as Williams struggled in her first service game but she couldn’t capitalise on five break points and then paid the price.
Williams, who now has a 32-1 singles record since June, will play either Frenchwomen Alize Cornet or West Australian qualifier Bojana Bobusic in the second round.
The 31-year-old third seed was the most impressive performer on the opening day’s action in Brisbane where sixth seed Petra Kvitova continued her unbeaten record at the tournament.
Kvitova progressed through to the second round with a gritty 6-3 6-4 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro, who pushed the Czech left-hander for 90 minutes in the Queensland heat.
After taking the first set in 40 minutes, the world No.8 looked set to cruise home at 5-2 in the second before a late fightback by the Spaniard, who ultimately spurned three break points to level at 5-all.
It gave Kvitova six wins from as many matches in Brisbane after claiming the tournament two years ago.
The 2011 Wimbledon champion, who started this year at No.2 on the world rankings, will now meet Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round.
World No.36 Pavlyuchenkova accounted for Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-3 3-6 6-3 while Poland’s Urszula Radwanska beat Austrian Tamira Pascek 2-6 6-0 6-2.
Earlier, Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova ended her horror 2012 with a stirring first-round upset of world No.16 Roberta Vinci.
Brisbane baseliner John Millman is into the last round of men’s qualifying after upsetting Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr 7-5 6-3.