Williams, who last won the trophy back in 2010, recovered from a tight first set to ease past Vera Zvonareva, 7-5, 6-0.

Djovokic meanwhile dropped only five games on his way to a crushing 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 victory against Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov.

Serena will be joined in round three by sister Venus, who barely had to break sweat as she breezed past American Lauren Davis in straight sets.

The main shock of the day also came in the women's draw as Victoria Azarenka beat fellow former one and eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2.

Two-time champion Azarenka proved too strong for her Danish counterpart, dictating play from the baseline as she wrapped up victory after just 98 minutes, and she will meet Czech Republic's 26th seed Barbora Zahlavova in the next round.

Victoria Azarenka returned to form by knocking out eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday ©Getty Images



Wozniacki however was the main scalp on an otherwise uneventful day for the majority of the seeds, as 2014 Wimbeldon champion Petra Kvitova also sealed her progress with a straight sets win against German Mona Barthel.

Fellow seeds Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszka Radwanska booked their place in the next round, and much to the delight of the partisan home crowd, Casey Dellacqua also made it through.

Shocks were few and far between in the men's draw, although defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka made heavy work of Marius Copil, eventually claiming a 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 win.

Novak Djokovic thrashed Andrey Kuznetsov to reach the third round in Australia ©Getty Images



The highest seed to fall was Roberto Bautista Agut as he fell victim to a surprise defeat to Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in four sets.

French extrovert and 17th seed Gael Monfils, is also out after suffering a five-set defeat to Poland's Jerzy Janowicz in a marathon contest.

After Dellacqua's progression, the Australian crowd were in fine voice but they could not quite spur on fan favourite Lleyton Hewitt, who lost in five sets to Benjamin Becker, son of legendary German Boris.

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