Top-ranked Jankovic wins Aussie opener

MELBOURNE, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Top-ranked Serbian Jelena Jankovic won her first-round match Monday in the Australian Open.

Jankovic, who has yet to win a Grand Slam title, had little trouble dispatching Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes at Melbourne Park. Jankovic's second-round opponent will be Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.

Also winning their first-round matches were Russian Dinara Safina and Serbian Ana Ivanovic. Safina, the third seed, beat countrywoman Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 6-4. Ivanovic, seeded fifth, edged German Julia Goerges 7-5, 6-3.

Ivanovic plays Italian Alberta Brianti in the second round, while Safina will take on another fellow Russian, Ekaterina Makarova.

Maria Sharapova is not defending her title this year due to a shoulder injury.

Other top-20 seed winners Monday included seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, 10th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, 11th-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki, No. 15 Alize Cornet of France, No. 16 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, No. 17 Russian Anna Chakvetadze and No. 19 Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova.

Seeded first-round losers were No. 23 Hungarian Agnes Szavay, No. 24 Austrian Sybille Bammer and No. 27 Russian Maria Kirilenko.

The first round wraps up Tuesday with matches that include second-seeded American Serena Williams, fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, sixth-seeded American Venus Williams, eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova and ninth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska.