Serena Williams breezed past Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-3 in just 58 minutes to prove why she is the strong favourite to win the Australian Open.
World number one Ashleigh Barty staggered to victory over Lesia Tsurenko winning 5-7 6-1 6-1 while defending champion Naomi Osaka advanced ahead of Marie Bouzkova, before winning 6-2 6-4.
While William’s win was quick there was a faster win in the day with 7th seed Petra Kvitova dispatching fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-1 6-0 in 51 minutes.
Britain’s Johanna Konta was due to play on the first day but her match was one of many that was cancelled due to rain.
The air quality around the Melbourne area improved considerably on Monday after last week’s qualifying matches disruption. Serena who had a pulmonary embolism after giving birth in 2017 said she was concerned about what conditions might be like during her match.
“That is still a concern for pretty much everyone. Every day all the players and the tournament make sure that all the players are updated on what the play conditions would be like,” said the American.
“It’s literally every day, we are just waiting every day to see how the air quality would be. Today, it seemed normal. Yeah, it seemed pretty good.”
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka reacts after a Twitter user booed her on the tournament’s official Twitter account.
One user had posted “Boooooooo – Don’t want her to win – Hate her interviews – Not Cute – Annoying” on the event’s official Twitter page, with Osaka later replying: “Are you big mad or little mad?” She later told reporters she could not understand why someone would jeer her like that.
“She was hating. What would her children think? You’re just going to come on the internet and boo me for no reason? I didn’t do anything to you,” Osaka said.
“She was very upset. I also wonder, people like this, if they see you in person, I wonder what they would do?”
Caroline Wozniacki who is playing in her final tournament before retiring got off to a good start with a 6-1 6-3 win over American Kristie Ahn.