Women's top seed Ashleigh Barty recorded a double bagel win over Danka Kovinic in her first round match at the Australian Open

The top seed in the women’s singles draw Ashleigh Barty recorded a double bagel win in her first round match on day two of the year’s opening Grand Slam tournament.

Barty, who is the big home hope at this year’s Australian Open, achieved the feat of winning without dropping a game as she beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-0 6-0 in 44 minutes.

It was a good day for the top seeds in the women’s draw with defending champion Sofia Kenin of the United States, who is ranked fourth in this year’s event, triumphing 7-5 6-4 against home wildcard player Maddison Inglis.

Fifth seed Elena Svitolina of Ukraine was also a straight sets winner on the Rod Laver Arena as she overcame Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-3 7-6.

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic was also an emphatic winner dropping just two games as she thrashed Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-0 6-2 inside an hour.

In the women’s draw there were two high-profile casualties on day two at Melbourne Park including 12th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who was defeated 7-5 6-4 by American Jessica Pegula.

The 13th seed Britain’s Johanna Konta also exited the competition, despite taking the first set 6-4 against Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan.

Juvan led 2-0 in set two when Konta retired hurt with an abdominal injury.

Spain's Rafael Nadal was a straight sets winner in his second round men's singles match at Melbourne Park ©Getty Images
Spain's Rafael Nadal was a straight sets winner in his second round men's singles match at Melbourne Park ©Getty Images

In the men’s draw, second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain was a comfortable victor against his Serbian opponent Laslo Djere, winning 6-3 6-4 6-1.

All players seeded in the top ten recorded comfortable wins today with fourth seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia triumphing 6-2 6-2 6-4 against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece was an emphatic winner under the floodlights, as he beat Gilles Simon of France 6-1 6-2 6-1.

Seventh seed Andrey Rublev of Russia overcame Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-3 6-3 6-4 while ninth seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 7-5 6-3.

Two top 16 players were on the end of upsets on day two including Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut, the 12th seed, who lost an unpredictable contest to Moldova’s Radu Albot in four sets 6-7 6-0 6-4 7-6.

Belgium’s David Goffin, the 13th seed, was also a surprise loser in a five-set encounter against home wildcard Alexei Popyrin, with the Australian victorious 3-6 6-4 6-7 7-6 6-3.