Tournament favourite Serena Williams has fought off an ankle injury to breeze into the second round of the Australian Open.
Williams, the third seed, turned her right ankle while chasing down a return while leading 4-0 in the first set but had no problem in thrashing Romanian Edina Gallovits-Hall 6-0 6-0.
Williams was forced to take a medical time out to have the ankle re-bandaged and also had her left ankle strapped.
When she resumed she moved tentatively but relied on her powerful serve and booming returns to end the match and walked off court soon after the emphatic win.
Despite the scoreline, Williams’ ability to withstand a two-week grand slam tournament is under a cloud.
Earlier, Danish star Caroline Wozniacki overcame a wildly erratic Sabine Lisicki to squeeze into the second round.
The former world No.1 and 10th seed was baffled by Lisicki’s high-risk game before finally winning 2-6 6-3 6-3.
Wozniacki, who had beaten the German only once in three encounters going into the clash, struggled in the opening set and trailed 3-1 in the second before clawing her way back into the match.
Lisicki managed to hit a stunning 33 more winners than the Dane but was hobbled by her 57 unforced errors compared to Wozniacki’s eight.
Wozniacki should have an easier second round encounter when she meets the winner of the match between Czech Andrea Hlavackova and Croatian Donna Vekic.
Meanwhile, Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm has rolled back the years to pull off a major upset.
The 42-year-old crushed 12th seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-2 6-0 in just over an hour.
Italian seventh seed Sara Errani’s Open campaign also ended quickly as she was sent home when beaten 6-4 6-4 by Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Russia’s Maria Kirilenko, seeded 14, defeated American Vania King in straight sets 6-4 6-2.