Women's round-up - day oneTop seed Justine Henin-Hardenne swept into the second round of the Australian Open with a ruthless destruction of Australian 15-year-old Olivia Lukaszewicz.
The world number one, favoured to win her third Grand Slam title in Melbourne, crushed a player ranked 817 in the world 6-0 6-0.
Henin-Hardenne gave her inxperienced opponent, a highly-rated junior from Adelaide, no time to settle and breezed through the opening set.
The second followed an identical pattern, with the Belgian completing a 'double bagel' in 45 minutes.
 |  She was very brave and I'm sure she will improve |
Henin-Hardenne's game was far from perfect, with six double-faults and 17 unforced errors, but she was pleased with her opening effort. "It was good to have a quick game because it could be a long tournament in this heat," she said.
The top seed also paid tribute to her young opponent, who never threw in the towel despite being brutally out-classed.
"She was very brave and I'm sure she will improve - she's still very young," Henin-Hardenne added.
She will next face unseeded Camille Pin of France in the second round on Wednesday.
With a host of injury withdrawals marring the women's draw, one player who could take advantage is Amelie Mauresmo.
The French number four seed made a confident start, sweeping aside Taiwanese wildcard Chia-Jung Chuang 6-1 6-0.
Elsewhere, a trio of Russians progressed to offset the opening-day exits of compatriots Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova. Vera Zvonareva, the 11th seed, had a comfortable work-out with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Zuzana Ondraskova of the Czech Republic.
Number 21 seed Elena Bovina recovered from the loss of the first set to beat Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic 4-6 6-1 7-5
And Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded 30, overcame American Shenay Perry 6-3 6-3.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
