Jankovic scorches through Aussie Open tennis

01-20-2009 | AFP

The Serbian top seed easily demolished her opponent in two sets sets

Panama Star Searing conditions during the first day's play at Melbourne Park failed to force any upsets on the women's side of the draw, as Russians Dinara Safina (seeded three) and Vera Zvonareva (seven) also advanced comfortably.

Jankovic's main problem in disposing of Austria's Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3 was the heat from the court's rubberised surface scalding her feet, forcing her to rest her soles on ice during changeovers. The 23-year-old consequently wrapped up the match as quickly as possible in 70 minutes, declaring herself "fit and ready to play" as she chases a maiden Grand Slam title to go with her ranking as the world's best player.

"It's nice to get going and get off to a good start," she said, crediting a gruelling off season training schedule in Mexico with strengthening her once injury-prone body. While Jankovic danced around like a cat on a hot tin roof, Ivanovic stumbled alarmingly searching for the form that took her to last year's final here. The glamorous 21-year-old eventually downed Germany's Julia Goerges 7-5, 6-3 but failed to dominate a player ranked 102 places below her. Ivanovic insisted she would shake off the rust.