Roger Federer made a smooth start to his bid for a 13th Grand Slam title with a 6-0 6-3 6-0 win over Diego Hartfield in the Australian Open first round.
The Swiss world number one and defending champion showed few signs of rust in brushing aside the Argentine, breezing through the first set without losing a game and clinching victory in 74 minutes.
Federer, seeking his fourth Australian Open title and third in a row, was break point down in his opening service game but quickly took control with a sucession of rasping groundstrokes and pinpoint serves.
Hartfield made the champion work a little in the second set but was simply outclassed by the top seed, who struck 38 winners and will play experienced Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in the second round.
Djokovic cruises into round two
Third seed Novak Djokovic made a confident start to his Australian Open title bid with an emphatic 6-0 6-2 7-6 win over German Benjamin Becker in the first round.
The 20-year-old Serb won the first seven games of the match, taking the opening set in 22 minutes, and although Becker forced a tiebreak in the third set, Djokovic was always in control.
He clinched victory when his opponent sent a crosscourt forehand wide before entertaining the crowd during his on-court interview with an impersonation of women's fifth seed Maria Sharapova.
'I started really well because I was really nervous before the match,' Djokovic told reporters. 'He is a good player but I was really focused at the start of the match.
'I lost my momentum a little bit but he played well in the third set so it was good to win the first match in straight sets.'
Becker, who ended Andre Agassi's career by beating him at the 2006 US Open, finally held his serve at the fourth attempt and briefly threatened a recovery when he broke Djokovic to love at the start of the third set.
Last year's US Open runner-up quickly regrouped by breaking Becker to love to level at 2-2 but the German refused to lie down, forcing a tiebreak and racing into a 3-0 lead.
Djokovic stayed calm, however, winning the tiebreak 7-5 to clinch victory in just over two hours.
The Serb, seeking his first grand slam title, plays Italian Simone Bolelli in the second round.
Selected men's results:
32-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 6-7(1) 5-7 6-2 6-1 6-3
7-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Konstantinos Economidis (Greece) 6-4 7-6(2) 6-1
Vince Spadea (US) bt 30-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 2-6 2-6 7-5 6-2 6-3
13-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Werner Eschauer (Austria) 6-4 6-4 6-4
Marat Safin (Russia) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 6-0 6-4 7-6(2)
12-James Blake (US) bt Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-3 6-2 6-2
22-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-4 6-3 6-1
Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt 27-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 7-6(4) 7-5 6-2
19-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-0 6-3 6-0
5-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) 6-2 6-2 6-1
15-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 7-6(0) 6-2 3-6 6-3
10-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Robert Smeets (Australia) 6-1 6-1 7-6(3)
Robin Haase (Netherlands) bt 17-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-7(2) 6-3 6-0 7-6(1)
21-Juan Monaco (Argentina) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 7-6(5) 7-5 6-1
25-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Thierry Ascione (France) 6-4 6-0 6-3.
