• Australian Open, Day Two

Kvitova kicks off campaign in style as Stosur crashes out

Petra Kvitova claimed an impressive win © Getty Images

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World No. 2 Petra Kvitova sounded a warning to her Australian Open rivals as she claimed an impressive 6-2 6-0 first-round victory over Vera Dushevina at the Australian Open.

The Wimbledon winner took to Rod Laver Arena before the midday temperatures in Melbourne soared, and the 21-year-old set a rapid pace for the rest of the women's field after her early start. Kvitova, though, did struggle momentarily in the opening stages, losing the first two games before going on to take the first set over her Russian opponent in just 27 minutes.

Indeed, it was more of the same in the second set as the Czech put together a stunning string of 12 consecutive games to progress to round two. Kvitova utterly dominated the helpless Dushevina as the match wore on, hitting 19 winners and dropping just 15 points on serve.

Kvitova, who reached the quarter-finals of last year's Australian Open, will face Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round after she ousted Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets.

Sixth seed Sam Stosur's poor run of recent form continued as the US Open champion lost 7-6(2) 6-3 to Romania's Sorana Cirstea. However, there were no such problems for fourth seed Maria Sharapova who breezed past Gisela Dulko 6-0 6-1 in under an hour.

Five-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams eased into the second round with a straight-sets win over Austria's Tamira Paszek. Twelfth seed Williams, who missed the defence of her 2010 crown last year with a foot injury, started slowly but soon settled into her rhythm as she eased to a 6-3 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena. Next up for Williams is Barbora Zahlavova Strycova who thrashed France's Iryna Bremond 6-0 6-4.

Maria Kirilenko also moved through to round two, comfortably overcoming Australian hope Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4 6-2. The 27th seed was aided in her win by Gajdosova notching up 42 unforced errors during the contest.

Former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic continued her return to form with a comfprtable 6-0 6-3 win over Lourdes Dominguez Lino, while Marion Bartoli, who suffered a serious calf injury at last year's Australian Open, went some way to exorcising those demons with a 7-5 6-0 win over fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.

Kaia Kanepi eased past Johanna Larsson, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was too strong for Klara Zakopalova, while Sabine Lisicki needed three sets to see off Stefanie Voegele and it was a similar story for Vera Zvonareva in her win over Alexandra Dulgheru.

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