 Mauresmo lost in the quarter-finals in Sydney last week |
Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo reached round two of the Australian Open with an unconvincing victory 6-3 6-4 over Shenay Perry on day one. Mauresmo went into the match on the back of an early exit in Sydney last week and began tentatively.
After dropping serve early on she hit back with two breaks of her own but let a lead slip in a patchy second set.
The Frenchwoman will next play Russia's Olga Poutchkova, who beat Marta Domachowska of Poland 6-2 6-4.
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"(It's) not yet quite the feeling that I had at the end of the tournament last year but the first match is never easy," said Mauresmo.
"I tried to get my rhythm but I'm glad to go through and it's great to be back here."
Russian fifth seed Nadia Petrova fired down 10 aces as she swept aside Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3 6-2 to advance.
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the third seed in Melbourne, had little trouble moving past Australian wildcard Jessica Moore 6-2 6-0 to join a strong Russian contingent in the next round.
Seventh seed Elena Dementieva swept past Stephanie Foretz 6-1 6-2, and 20th seed Tatiana Golovin beat Anna Smashnova 6-3 6-1.
Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova suffered a second-set stutter before prevailing over American veteran Jill Craybas 6-4 5-7 6-1.
And 11th seed Jelena Jankovic, an outsider for the title after a strong start to the year, saw off Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-3 6-3.
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News conference: Amelie Mauresmo