TENNIS:Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made a confident start to her Australian Open campaign with a straight-sets demolition of Nathalie Dechy. The 22-year-old, who appears to be in the easier half of the draw, looked untroubled in seeing off the former Melbourne Park semi-finalist 6-3 6-1 in the Rod Laver Arena.
Kuznetsova, who was beaten in the final by world number one Justine Henin in Sydney last week and at last year's US Open, said she was happy to slip under the radar for now and was not worried that she does not have the profile of other players.
"I don't care about my profile, I care about my game," she said.
"I try to really focus on my tennis. I cannot take care of my profile."
Eighth seed Venus Williams also enjoyed a comfortable opening victory, beating China's Zi Yan 6-2 7-5. Williams, who attracted as much attention in the tournament's second evening session for her outfit and glittering accessories as her tennis, secured a meeting with France's Camile Pin.
The Wimbledon champion led 5-2 in the second set only for world number 61 Yan to level at 5-5, but the American recovered her poise to clinch victory in 74 minutes. "I felt good out there and had a lot of fun," Williams said. "I hit a lot of shots which was good. She really stayed in there, definitely made me play some balls that I wasn't expecting to come back."
Williams, seeking her first Australian Open title, cruised through the first set, taking it on Yan's second double fault. The Chinese player broke for a 2-0 lead in the second before Williams hit back to win five successive games.
A series of unforced errors from Williams allowed Yan back into the match but the six-times grand slam champion, who missed last year's Australian Open through injury, broke in the 12th game to clinch victory.
Earlier, fourth seed Ana Ivanovic, Kuznetsova's potential opponent in the semis, was less impressive but still advanced after seeing off Romania's Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-3.
Other seeded players in the bottom half, Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova, Nadia Petrova, Alona Bondarenko, Maria Kirilenko, Katarina Srebotnik, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Sania Mirza also made it into the final 64.
Na Li, the 24th seed, beat Severine Bremond of France late on a day that provided a handful of upsets.
France's Marion Bartoli, seeded 10, was beaten by Sofia Arvidsson, Russian 16th seed Dinara Safina was ousted by German Sabine Lisicki, 22nd seed Lucie Safarova was upset by Colombian Catalina Castano and Hungarian Agnes Szavay, the 20th seed, departed in three sets to Ekaterina Makarova.
Although she was not entirely satisfied with her first-round effort, Ivanovic was happy with her build-up to the season-opening grand slam.
Ninth seed Hantuchova made light work of her opening round match, defeating American Vania King 6-3 7-5.
Sixth seed Chakvetadze had an even easier time with her opponent Andrea Petkovic having to withdraw with an injury she suffered in the warm-up.
