Serena sweeps into second round

Second seed Serena Williams progressed to the second round of the Australian Open today with a 6-3 6-2 victory over China’s Yuan Meng.

The American, who won at Melbourne Park two years ago before exiting at the quarter-final stage last year, took one hour 15 minutes to see off her opponent.

Williams lost in the semi-finals of the Sydney International last week but the defeat did little to dent her confidence of reclaiming the world number one spot with a victory in Melbourne.

The 27-year-old made a comfortable start as she took the first game but Yuan fought back from two break points down to win the next one and level 1-1.

Despite struggling with the heat and glare from the sun, Williams then won the third game and broke serve in the next before moving into a 4-1 lead, before closing out the set.

The former world number one stepped up a gear in the second set as she raced into a 4-0 lead and, though Yuan battled valiantly to twice hold serve, Williams proved too much to claim the set 6-2 and her place in the second round.