Despite an error-strewn display, Venus Williams reached the second round of the Australian Open with a 6-2 7-5 win over China's Yan Zi.
Below-par display from Wimbledon champion
Venus Williams has scored her first victory at the Australian Open in three years, the Wimbledon champion nevertheless offering an error-strewn performance on her way to a 6-2 7-5 win over China's Yan Zi.
The eighth-seed lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2006 and missed last year with injuries before starting the comeback which included her Wimbledon title.
And Williams was her own worst enemy against Yan, giving away two break points with a pair of double-faults in the first set, before almost handing the doubles specialist an early break in the second with a string of unforced errors.
Fortunately for the American, however, the less-powerful Yan was content to stick to the baseline and finished with only five winners.
Despite her inconsistency, Williams won five consecutive games from 0-2 in the second set. However, serving for the match at 5-3, she double-faulted twice while getting broken at love.
But Williams - who made 29 unforced errors and hit only 19 winners - joined sister Serena, the defending champion, in round two when she broke for the match - Yan netting a string of groundstrokes.
Kuznetsova through
In contrast, Svetlana Kuznetsova needed just over an hour to see off the challenge of Nathalie Dechy in her own opening match.
The 22-year-old, seeded second for the first Grand Slam event of the year, won 6-3 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena to breeze through to round two.
Dechy had reached the last four in Melbourne back in 2005, though she hadn't managed to win a match in the tournament since.
Her losing run continued as Kuznetsova proved far too strong, hitting 17 winners to Dechy's eight.
The Russian admits she is happy to keep a low profile in the early rounds with big guns Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams also in her half of the draw.
"I don't care about my profile; I care about my game," she said. "Attention is definitely good. But too much attention is not good.
"I try to really focus on my game. This is what I take care of, and I want to really focus on that."
Kuznetsova will next face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, who defeated Olga Govortsova 6-1 6-1 in the opening round.
Ivanovic was another seed to win in straight sets, the Serbian beating Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-3.
Anna Chakvetadze didn't even need to win a single game to reach the second round.
Walkover
The Russian, seeded sixth, was given a walkover win when her German opponent Andrea Petkovic had to withdraw with a knee injury.
Daniela Hantuchova and Nadia Petrova also progressed but there were several early exits for seeds.
The biggest shock of the day was the departure of Marien Bartoli, the Wimbledon runner-up and 10th seed losing in three sets, 6-7 6-4 6-3, against Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson.
Dinara Safina was another unexpected first-round casualty, the 16th-seeded Russian losing 7-6 4-6 6-2 to Germany's Sabine Lisicki.
Seeded 20th, Hungary's Agnes Szavay lost 3-6 6-4 7-5 to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.
And 22nd seed Lucie Safarova found Colombian Catalina Castaño too hot to handle in the sunshine, losing 6-1 6-4.
