American Venus Williams has joined second seed Maria Sharapova in the second round of the Australian Open.

Williams took just one hour to dispose of Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva 6-1 6-0.

Williams will play the winner of the match between Alize Cornet of France and New Zealander Marina Erakovic.

Earlier, Sharapova, the reigning French Open champion, scored the easiest possible win, crushing fellow Russian Olga Puchkova 6-0 6-0.

Last year’s runner-up allowed Puchkova just 23 points as she ripped through the match in 55 minutes.

Sharapova meets the winner of the clash between Japan’s Misaki Doi and Croatian Petra Martic.