World no.1 Ash Barty has cruised into the Australian Open second round with a 6-0 6-1 thrashing of Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko.
It took Barty only 54 minutes to eliminate her 119th ranked opponent and the Australian star will now face Italian qualifier Lucia Bronzetti in her next match on Wednesday.
On paper Tsurenko looked to be a tough match-up for Barty, with the 32-year-old ranked as high as 23 in February 2019.
But even after a early hiccup where she needed to save three break points, Barty went on to win the first set to love in dominant fashion.
The second set went much the same way until Tsurenko managed to get on the board to the cheers of the crowd in the sixth game.
However, Barty served the game out as she attempts to better her best finish at the Australian Open, which was a semi-final in 2020.
"This is beautiful - it's felt like an eternity since I have been on this beautiful court," Barty said in her post-match interview.
"Last year was just incredible - obviously highlighted by Wimbledon (winning in 2021) - it was a dream of mine. I was extremely fortunate it came true.
"It's certainly nice to be back on home soil and playing as well as I did tonight. It was a lot of fun out here.
"I felt like [the performance] was nice and clean. End-to-end I did a good job in adjusting to the wind.
"Overall, I felt like i was able to control the court with my forehand. Yeah, it was nice and solid to get out here and play a decent match."
Kokkinakis fails to live up to hype in thrashing
After winning his first ATP title at the Adelaide International on the weekend, Thanasi Kokkinakis has crashed out in the Australian Open first round to German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann.
Kokkinakis struggled throughout the two hours and 17 minutes as he was beaten 6-2 6-3 6-2 by his 126th-ranked opponent.
The Australian wasn't in the match for the beginning, spending much of the first set complaining about the balls and court, as Hanfmann just got on with business.
Every time Kokkinakis won a point, the rowdy Court 3 crowd tried to get behind the Australian, but the 25-year-old couldn't get into his rhythm, making 42 unforced errors to 24.
