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 The tournament had been turned on its head on the first day with
eight women's seeds, notably fifth ranked Ana Ivanovic, crashing out
in the first round.
Tuesday's matches went mostly as expected, however, with Djokovic
barely troubled while Serena had some issues in the second set
against players ranked more than 100 places below them.
Bidding to become the second man to win five Australian Open titles
and touted by pundits and fellow players as the player to beat,
Djokovic put in just enough effort to beat Slovenian qualifier Aljaz
Bedene 6-3 6-2 6-4 in a shade under two hours.
"For a first round performance it was pretty good," said Djokovic,
who has been dogged by a virus this month. "Still need to work on
some things. I'm still developing my game so I'm glad to go through.
"It has been a rough two weeks health-wise but I'm getting there."
Serena was at her ambivalently arrogant best in the first set,
appearing to barely acknowledge Alison Van Utyvanck's presence as
she swatted aside the Belgian 6-0 in 21 minutes and then jumped out
to a 1-0 lead in the second.
Such was her dominance a 'double-bagel' appeared on the cards before
the 20-year-old found her rhythm and range and forced the 18-times
grand slam winner into a match, which caused some frustrations for
the American before she ran out a 6-0 6-4 winner.
"As always, I had the jitters going out in the first match of a
grand slam," she said. "It's never super easy to be the one that
everyone wants to beat.
"So I always have to be a little bit above. But I felt okay (and) I
definitely think I can improve a tremendous amount."
TOP-10 WIN
Despite taking a fall early in his match, Wawrinka was equally
comfortable against Marsel Ilhan, the only Turkish man to have made
a grand slam main draw.
"First grand slam is never easy, but I'm happy the way I played,"
the Swiss told reporters. "I play some good tennis and I have
confidence with my game in general."
Kei Nishikori also had few problems, enjoying a 6-4 7-6 6-2 victory
over former top-10 player Nicolas Almagro, who is on the comeback
trail after foot surgery last June.
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Eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic also advanced, 7-6(3) 7-6(3) 6-3
over qualifier Illya Marchenko, though he admitted his laconic
demeanor on court hides a tangled mess of high strung nerves and
personal demons.
"Everything bothers me deep down," a smiling Raonic said after his
28th ace sealed the win over the 144th-ranked Ukrainian.
"Everything. I'm not that relaxed."
DARK HORSE
Twice champion Victoria Azarenka, unseeded after an injury-ravaged
2014, proved she was a dangerous floater in the draw as she got back
to her banshee-screeching best, raising the decibel levels on
Hisense Arena in a 6-3 6-2 win over American Sloane Stephens.
"Being an unseeded player, it's not a surprise that I have a tough
draw or tough opponents in the early round," she said. "I just need
to go through that."
The tournament does not get any easier for Azarenka with a second
round clash against former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, who
eventually outfought American teenager Taylor Townsend 7-6(1) 6-2.
"It's going to be tough, she's won here before (and) not the easiest
on paper," Wozniacki said of the second round clash.
"But at the same time... whether you have to beat her in the second
round or fourth round, whatever, doesn't matter if you want to win
the tournament."
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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