Serena makes it to second round

The Australian Open’s defending champion opened with an easy victory.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams started the defense of her Australian Open title with a dominating 6-2, 6-1 win today over Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska.

Williams also only lost three games in her previous match at Melbourne Park: a 6-0, 6-3 win over now No. 2-ranked Dinara Safina in last year’s final.

Despite having her right thigh heavily wrapped with a white bandage, Williams didn’t show any signs of restricted movement.

The 28-year-old American hurt her left knee at the Sydney International last Friday night and later said she has been bothered by a foot problem.

Williams broke Radwanska in the opening game to set the tone.

Ana Ivanovic, hoping to rediscover the form that helped her reach two Grand Slam finals in 2008, started her Australian Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-3 win over American Shenay Perry.

Ivanovic was runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open and won the French Open as she rose to No. 1 in the rankings.

But after slumping in 2009 and failing to win a title, the 22-year-old Serb’s opening match was put on one of the uncovered courts in overcast conditions.

Ivanovic, who has become a crowd favorite Down Under since she began dating Australian professional golfer Adam Scott, saved four break points in the final game before holding serve to take the match.

The rain that allowed only 26 of the scheduled 64 matches to be completed on the opening day had held off early on day two.

In other results, two seeded French players advanced and one went out.

No. 11 Marion Bartoli had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Rosanna de los Rios and No. 26 Aravane Rezai, who lost to Serena Williams in the Sydney International semifinals last week, beat India’s Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-2.

No. 18 Virginie Razzano lost 6-2, 6-3 to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova

Justine Henin made her comeback to Grand Slam tennis on Monday night with a 6-4, 6-3 win over fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in her first match at a major since she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Australian Open.

Henin quit in May 2008, while holding the No. 1 ranking, but was inspired to return to the tour when her compatriot Kim Clijsters won the U.S. Open in September — Clijsters’ third tournament back from two years out to get married and have a baby.

Henin has returned with a new, philosophical outlook on life.

The relentless intensity that characterized the diminutive Belgian as she won seven Grand Slam singles titles before retiring 20 months ago has given way to a more self-assured, open manner in her second coming to the game.

“I’m a little less superstitious about the past,” Henin said. “I’ve tested a different restaurant every day since I’ve arrived — that never happened in the past.

“I feel like I’ve evolved,” she added, laughing, “and there are things that don’t have a role in success or failure.”

Unranked and playing as a wild card entry, Henin will now play a second-round match against fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva, the Olympic champion.