PIX: Date-Krumm oldest woman to proceed at Aus Open

Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm produced the biggest shock of the Australian Open so far on Tuesday when she unseated 12th seed Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-0 to become the oldest winner of a women's singles match at the tournament.

The 42-year-old, playing her 11th Australian Open 23 years after her debut, was well worth the quick fire victory, which she sealed on her second match point when her Russian opponent hit a forehand wide.

Date-Krumm reached the semi-finals at Melbourne Park in 1994, where she lost to Steffi Graff, but had not won a match at the year's first Grand Slam since returning after a gap of 12 years in 2009.

The World No 100 will face Shahar Peer of Israel or another Russian in Alexandra Panova in the second round.

World No 1 Victoria Azarenka got her Australian Open title defence underway with an unconvincing 6-1, 6-4 victory over Romania's Monica Niculescu on Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The Belarusian did well to battle back to secure victory without going to a third set after going 3-0 down in the second, but the way her first serve fell apart at times will only encourage her main rivals for the crown.

Second seed Maria Sharapova got her campaign off to a blistering start without losing a game on Monday and third seed Serena Williams followed suit with a similarly convincing win despite a tumble on Hisense Arena on Tuesday.

Serena Williams recovered from a nasty fall and painful ankle injury to blast her way into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Romania's Edina Gallovits-Hall.

The World No 3, leading 4-0 in the first set, slipped on the Hisense Arena surface then turned her right ankle and lay motionless on the bright blue court before sitting up when medical attention arrived.

The reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion received treatment courtside, which included having her ankle re-strapped, and returned eight minutes later.

The 31-year-old appeared to be favouring her ankle and grimaced from time to time, but had obviously decided to limit her movement and blasted winners seemingly at will in order to get off court as quickly as possible.

Andy Murray launched his bid for a second successive Grand Slam trophy with a crushing 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 over Dutchman Robin Haase to charge into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Briton, who captured a long-awaited major title at the U.S. Open last year, charged out of the blocks against the 53rd-ranked Haase, capturing an early break in each set and wrapping up the match in a quick-fire 97 minutes.

Haase had previously proved a handful for Murray, taking him to five sets in the 2011 US Open and beating the Scot in their only other match at Rotterdam in 2008.

But the 25-year-old Dutchman never threatened in the sunshine at Rod Laver Arena, blowing five out of seven break points and blasting a forehand long to allow Murray to seal the match.

Former No 1 Caroline Wozniacki came back from a set and 3-0 down in the decider to beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in her first-round match.

The 10th-seeded Danish player only hit 12 winners to 45 for Lisicki, but the big-hitting German also made 57 unforced errors to just eight for Wozniacki.

Earlier, French Open finalist Sara Errani lost her first-round match at the Australian Open 6-4, 6-4 to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Monday.

Roger Federer shook off the rust from a competition-free buildup to the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 trouncing of France's Benoit Paire to march into the second round at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Federer pounced in the opening game to break serve, then broke the unseeded Frenchman again at 4-2 to mow through the first set.

The Swiss second seed broke again early in the second and charged through the third, sealing the match in 83 minutes with an imperious forehand passing shot.

Federer will play the winner of qualifier Dudi Sela of Israel or Russia's Nikolay Davydenko as he continues his quest for an 18th Grand Slam title.