Andy Murray and the Williams sisters took the easy route at the Australian Open on Tuesday, breezing into the second round in furnace-like conditions.
As temperatures soared past 40 degrees Celsius, fourth seed Murray barely broke a sweat against Romanian Davis Cup captain Andrei Pavel, who retired with a back injury when the Scot was leading 6-2, 3-1.
Second-seeded Serena Williams was equally comfortable in her 6-3, 6-2 mauling of China’s Meng Yuan, not needing the ice vests offered to players between games in such sizzling heat.
Matching her sister, sixth seed Venus barely broke stride as she sauntered past Germany’s Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-3.
While they cruised, Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva survived a gruelling test before grinding down Germany’s Kristina Barrois in three sets, while Polish ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska became the biggest casualty so far.
Australian hope Lleyton Hewitt joined Radwanska on the scrap heap after slumping in five sets to Chilean 13th seed Fernando Gonzalez.
Murray is now undefeated in six matches this season as he goes in search of Britain’s first Grand Slam title since 1936.
”Obviously you don’t want to finish a match like that. Andrei’s been having problems with his back for a year,” said the world number four.
”It’s unfortunate I had to stop but I felt like I was hitting the ball well. I guess if you want to do well in the tournament, it’s good to conserve some energy. Hopefully that was a good thing.”
The Scot, who was coasting through the match after breaking twice to take the opening set in 31 minutes, is the form player of recent months and is seen as a real chance to win his maiden Grand Slam title here.
The experienced Serena is looking for her 10th Major crown and her fourth in Melbourne.
Only a few select women, including Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, have won more Major titles than the formidable 27-year-old.
Forgoing her usual flashy outfits for a nondescript dark blue number, the American powered past Meng in just 75 minutes.
”I think I hit some pretty solid shots, sometimes I even went for some shots just to try something different,” she said, downplaying the effect of the heat.
”There wasn’t so much humidity out there, the dry heat is actually better than the humidity. But it was definitely extreme conditions.”
Venus, who has yet to lift the Melbourne title, was untroubled by Kerber.
”I’m feeling the best that I can and I’m glad to be in the second round,” she said.
Dementieva is widely regarded as a dark horse for the championship after already winning two titles this year.
But the Beijing Olympic gold medallist was pushed to the limit in the 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-1 win, emerging victorious to take her recent unbeaten run to 11 matches.
”I’m just happy to survive,” she said.
Other players to progress included 13th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, while China’s unseeded Peng Shuai sent Italian 28th seed Francesca Schiavone packing. Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie beat France’s Camille Pin.
Amelie Mauresmo, the champion in 2006, showed no signs of the thigh strain that forced her out of the Brisbane International in her 6-4, 6-3 win over Olga Govortsova.
On the men’s side, French sixth seed Giles Simon quietly went about his business to beat unseeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets.
World number one and top seed Rafael Nadal plays later on Tuesday. — Sapa-AFP