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Defending champion Serena Williams cruised into the third round of the Australian Open, routing 90th-ranked Su-wei Hsieh 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday in Melbourne. Williams, the top seed, recorded seven aces to none for Hsieh, completing the match in one hour. The first serve was a weapon for the 21-time Grand Slam champion, who won 85 percent of her first-service points.
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Maria Sharapova, the 2008 Australian Open champion, also had little difficulty in the second round Tuesday. The fifth-seeded Russian blitzed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-2, 6-1.
Sharapova said the arm injury that hampered her leading into the tournament was no longer a factor.
"I feel pretty good," Sharapova said. "I felt I was more confident with my left hand today."
No. 12 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and No. 13 Roberta Vinci of Italy also recorded straight-set victories in second-round matches. No. 23 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-1, 7-5 to Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.
In men's singles, third-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland dumped Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Federer compiled 25 aces to Dolgopolov's two. A four-time champion in Melbourne, Federer last won the Australian Open in 2010.
No. 7 Kei Nishikori of Japan defeated Austin Krajicek of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a battle of practice partners who trained together in Florida.
"It was a great match against Austin, we have known each other for a long time, so it wasn't easy to play him, but he played well today," Nishikori said.
"I should have closed out the second set when it was 5-4, but he started playing better and it was a tight tiebreak. Once I got the tiebreak, I was better."
No. 15 David Goffin of Belgium and No. 9 Dominic Thiem of Austria also won second-round matches.
