Victoria Azarenka threw down the gauntlet to her Australian Open rivals with a brutal demolition of Casey Dellacqua on Wednesday.
After winning the warm-up tournament in Sydney, the third seed is widely fancied to land her her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne this year.
She certainly looked in good nick under the lights of the Rod Laver Arena, winning 6-1 6-0 against home hope Dellacqua in just 57 minutes. She also lost just one game in her first-round encounter.
The Aussie had no answer to Azarenka's superior power and was unable to force a single break point in the one-sided contest.
Azarenka's win booked her a date with another of the warm-up tournament winners, Mona Barthel.
The German upset 32nd seed Petra Cetkovska on Wednesday, winning 7-5 6-3.
Earlier there was also a convincing win for eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, a possible quarter-final opponent for Azarenka.
The Pole saw off Argentine qualifier Paula Ormaechea 6-3 6-1.
