Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova cruise into third round

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both shook off recent injury problems to sail into the Australian Open third round with straight-set victories.

Williams had pull out of the Hopman Cup with a knee injury a fortnight ago and the problem looked to be lingering when she was pictured taking treatment in practice last week.

The American, however, showed few signs of weakness as she dispatched Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-1 6-2 in the Rod Laver Arena, hitting 26 winners and wrapping up victory in just one hour.