MELBOURNE, Jan 15: Serena Williams refused to let a painful tumble divert her from her quest for a sixth Australian Open title on Tuesday as Roger Federer and Andy Murray progressed almost untroubled towards their goals on day two at Melbourne Park.

Williams picked herself up to complete a resounding 6-0, 6-0 victory over Edina Gallovits-Hall, a ruthless dominance that world No 1 and defending champion Victoria Azarenka was unable to replicate as she progressed to the second round.

Swiss Federer beat Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 to embark on his campaign for an 18th major title after Briton Murray had steadied his Grand Slam nerves with a controlled 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Robin Haase.

After an underwhelming opening day of the tournament on Monday, the sheer wealth of talent on display on the show courts almost ensured a better day two under the sunny skies at Melbourne Park.

There is no bigger personality in tennis than Williams, who is chasing a third successive Grand Slam title after wins at Wimbledon and the US Open, and the American almost inevitably hogged the spotlight.

Rampaging towards victory, the 31-year-old turned her ankle after hitting a forehand and lay prone on the court for a couple of dramatic minutes — immediately recalling her fall at Brisbane last year that ultimately ended her 2012 Melbourne campaign.

She was soon back up, ankle strapped, to complete the rout to set up a second round tie against Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.

While Williams is pursuing her 16th Grand Slam title, Murray is hoping to bag his second after his triumph at the US Open last year and he made short work of Dutchman Haase.

Federer, four times a champion in Melbourne, easily negotiated what had been billed as potentially difficult tie against young French shoemaker Paire.

Federer remained on a third-round collision course with Australian Bernard Tomic, who delighted the home crowd with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over Argentine Leonardo Mayer.

Women’s top seed Azarenka was forced to come back from 3-0 down in the second set in her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Romania’s Monica Niculescu.

After only two seeds fell in the entirety of day one of the tournament, women’s seventh seed Sara Errani and 12th ranked Nadia Petrova departed in quick succession on Tuesday.

While Errani’s 6-4, 6-4 loss to Carla Suarez Navarro was not a huge shock, 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm’s 6-2, 6-0 victory over Petrova earned her a place in the record books as the oldest winner of a women’s singles match at the tournament.

The upsets remained thin on the ground in the men’s draw with top 10 players Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet all easing into the second round.

Wu Di, the first Chinese to play the main men’s draw at a Grand Slam in the professional era, had a less successful outing when he lost 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Croatia’s Ivan Dodig.

Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki looked like she might also be on her way home but the 10th seeded Dane battled back from a set down to beat German Sabine Lisicki 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: Gael Monfils (France) bt 18-Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-3; Rajeev Ram (US) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Dudi Sela (Israel) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3; Bernard Tomic (Australia) bt Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; Daniel Brands (Germany) bt 27-Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt 19-Tommy Haas (Germany) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 8-6; Benjamin Becker (Germany) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slovenia) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1); Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; 9-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Albert Montanes (Spain) 7-5, 6-2, 6-1; Ivan Dodig (Croatia) bt Wu Di (China) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; 14-Gilles Simon (France) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; Jesse Levine (Canada) bt Tommy Robredo (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4; 12-Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Marinko Matosevic (Australia) 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) bt Jamie Baker (Britain) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-2; 30-Marcel Granollers (Spain) bt Grega Zemlja (Slovenia) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 — Zemlja retired; 6-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; James Duckworth (Australia) bt Benjamin Mitchell (Australia) 6-4, 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 5-7, 8-6; Jeremy Chardy (France) bt Adrian Menendez (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-1; 7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Michael Llodra (France) 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) bt Benoit Paire (France) 6-2, 6-4, 6-1; 17-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-2, 6-3, 6-4; Amir Weintraub (Israel) bt Guido Pella (Argentina) 7-6 (7-2), 7-5, 6-2; Alejandro Falla (Colombia) bt Josselin Ouanna (France) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Go Soeda (Japan) bt Luke Saville (Australia) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; 13-Milos Raonic (Canada) bt Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0); 25-Florian Mayer (Germany) bt Rhyne Williams (US) 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (14-12), 6-1; Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5; Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) bt Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Blaz Kavcic (Slovenia) bt 29-Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; Joao Sousa (Portugal) bt John-Patrick Smith (Australia) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 3-Andy Murray (Britain) bt Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-3, 6-1, 6-3; 21-Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

First round: 20-Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (Australia) 6-1, 7-5; Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) bt 24-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5; Jamie Hampton (US) bt 31-Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 6-2, 6-4; Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Jana Cepelova (Slovakia) bt Greta Arn (Hungary) 6-2, 6-2; Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) bt Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4; Daria Gavrilova (Russia) bt Lauren Davis (US) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4; Kristina
Mladenovic (France) bt Timea Babos (Hungary) 6-3, 4-6, 11-9; Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 4-6, 6-1, 14-12; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) bt Mathilde Johansson (France) 6-4, 6-2; Ayumi Morita (Japan) bt Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) 6-3, 6-3; Laura Robson (Britain) bt Melanie Oudin (US) 6-2, 6-3; Donna Vekic (Croatia) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-1, 6-2; 29-Sloane Stephens (US) bt Simona Halep (Romania) 6-1, 6-1; Annika Beck (Germany) bt 28-Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3; Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) bt Christina Mchale (US) 6-1, 6-7 (0-7), 6-2; Bojana Jovanovski (Serbia) bt Maria Teresa Torro (Spain) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; 17-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) bt Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; 8-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2; 1-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-1, 6-4; 16-Roberta Vinci (Italy) bt Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-3, 7-5; 3-Serena Williams (US) bt Edina Gallovits-Hall (Romania) 6-0, 6-0; 21-Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-4, 6-1; Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Caroline Garcia (France) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; Shahar Peer (Israel) bt Alexandra Panova (Russia) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; 10-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; 26-Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) bt Lara Arruabarrena Vecino (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; 14-Maria Kirilenko (Russia) bt Vania King (US) 6-4, 6-2; Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt 7-Sara Errani (Italy) 6-4, 6-4; Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) bt 12-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-2, 6-0; Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 6-2, 6-1; Peng Shuai (China) bt Rebecca Marino (Canada) 6-3, 6-0.—Reuters