Ivanovic will go into this month's Australian Open as a favourite

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic kicked off her 2009 season ahead of the Australian Open with victory over Petra Kvitova at the Brisbane International.

Serbian Ivanovic, 21, who reached the Australian Open final last season, overcame the Czech 6-4 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Roberta Vinci.

Another former world number one Amelie Mauresmo also opened with a win in the ATP-WTA Australian Open tune-up event.

The Frenchwoman edged past Australia's Jelena Dokic 7-6 (11-9) 7-6 (7-5).

The victory will provide a welcome boost for Mauresmo, whose ranking has slipped to 24 from a high of number one in 2006 when she won two Grand Slam titles.

She has been working with new coach Hugo Lecoq since failing to finish in the top 20 last year - the first time in a decade.

But she had to fend off two first-set points before overcoming Dokic, who herself has slumped in the rankings to 177th from a career high of number four.

"It was a tough first match - she was playing some good tennis and gave me a bit of trouble," Mauresmo said. "But there were good things. Physically I felt good on the court. That's a key point for me."

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"The end of last season was a bit of a disappointment for me so I was looking forward to a good start," she said.

Three seeded players suffered an early exit, though, with fourth seed Daniel Hantuchova of Slovakia beaten 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-0 by Italy's Sara Errani.

Italy's number eight seed Francesca Schiavone also fell, ousted 7-5 6-2 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus, and Ai Sugiyama of Japan, seeded ninth, was defeated 6-2 6-3 by home favourite Samantha Stosur.

Italy's Vinci beat Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 0-6 6-3 6-1 to earn her place in the second round.

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