Monday 18 January 2016 10:08, UK
Serena Williams dispelled any doubts over her fitness with a 6-4 7-5 win over Camila Giorgi in the Australian Open first round.
Maria Sharapova then romped to her own straight sets victory over Japan's Nao Hibino later in the day, meaning a potential quarter-final against Williams remains on the cards.
The world No 1 Williams, who had spent four months away from the game and barely swung a racquet since the US Open last September, faced the highest-ranked unseeded player at a sweltering Rod Laver Arena.
Williams pulled out of her first match at the Hopman Cup in Perth earlier this month due to knee inflammation, but the 34-year-old moved freely during a testing opener against Giorgi and said it gave her no problems.
Showing none of the lethargy that has sometimes dogged her in early Grand Slam matches, a calm and focused Williams roared to a 4-1 lead as the temperature soared over 32 degrees Celsius.
The 36th-ranked Giorgi, a slightly built player packing a meaty forehand, steadied herself to drag Williams into a baseline battle and the American's screams of frustration underlined a growing tension in the match.
Though a match for Williams in terms of court speed and fire-power, Giorgi landed barely a third of her first serves and gave up the decisive break at 5-5 in the second set with her 12th double-fault.
Williams needed no further invitation and closed out the match with a customary barrage of booming first serves.
Williams, who next faces 90th-ranked Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei, insisted she had no fitness issues in the game.
"[The knee is] great. It was an hour and 43 minutes and I didn't feel it at all," Williams said.
"I think I served well today. I got broken once, but other than that I was able to stay focused on that part.
"I have been going non-stop since the London Olympics and, seeing that this is another Olympic year, I kind of wanted to start the year out really fresh and really go at it again as hard as I can.
"I just needed that time to just recover the best of my ability and get really fit, and really train and get ready for the season."
Sharapova, attempting to win her first title at Melbourne Park since 2008, was in blistering form to take the match against Hibino 6-1, 6-3 in 73 minutes on Margaret Court Arena.
There were concerns ahead of the clash about her lack of match fitness, after Sharapova pulled out of the Brisbane International with a forearm injury, but she was 3-0 up inside 10 minutes and never looked back.
The trouble-free performance was a boost for Sharapova, whose latter half of 2015 was wrecked by injuries.
"I haven't played many matches in many weeks so it's great to come out here and start my season at the Australian Open," said Sharapova.
"I was quite pleased in the way I was able to play in my opening match. I'm feeling really good, which is a positive. I'm just happy to finish off today and be able to get ready for the next one."
