Day four in Melbourne at the Australian Open and both of the top seeds in the men's and women's singles sailed (relatively) comfortably through to the third round. Serena Williams persevered through a tight first set against Vera Zvonareva before 'bagelling' her opponent in the second, while Novak Djokovic made short work of Russian Andrey Kuznetsov in his men's match.
With temperatures rising in Melbourne as high as 33C at times, quick wins are paramount as the leading players seek to progress through the rounds smoothly and maintain their energy reserves for the latter stages of the tournament.
Djokovic for one seemed to have taken that concept on board as he blitzed Kuznetsov for the loss of just five games in three commanding sets. The number one seed and favourite to take the title next week seems in ominously good form.
Swiss number two but ranked four in the men's singles here, Stan Wawrinka, who is the reigning champion after his victory last year over Rafael Nadal in the final, continued the defence of his only Grand Slam title with victory over Romanian Marius Copil. He scraped through the first two sets on tie-breaks, but found the formula to unlock his opponent's serve in the third set, winning that 6-3 and in doing so progressed to the third round.
Williams is perhaps not in her best form as of yet and still struggling at times to dominate her opposition as she has in the past, yet her straight sets win over the Russian was solid enough after early concerns, sprinting through the second set 6-0.
Her obituaries continue to be written, but at 33 years of age she still seems to have an appetite for the battle, so perhaps her off court business interests will have to wait a little longer before she fully commits to them.
Her pal Caroline Wozniacki, seeded eight, was not so fortunate in pitting her wits against the two-time winner Down Under, Victoria Azarenka.
The Belarussian's unseeded status belies a player who seems over last year's injury problems and keen to make up for lost time, as she looks to move back up the rankings to where she rightfully belongs. She had few problems defeating the seeded Dane 6-4 6-2 and given a good draw could do some real damage in the second week of the tournament.
