Muguruza Starts with a Bang in Melbourne

Should the Barcelona-based youngster not slip up against Czech Barbora Strycova in the third round, she will face Australian Open dual-winner Victoria Azarenka in the Round of 16.

The feisty Kontaveit refused to give up and won three more games, but it was only delaying the inevitable with Muguruza serving out for the easy win and a second round clash with experienced Belgian Kirsten Flipkens. “It will be great if I can play against her”, she said.

Strycova and Muguruza have met twice before, with the Spaniard taking both of their meetings in straight sets, though she was clear in the notion that no one is to be underestimated – especially at this time of year.

Match-fixing speculation also continued to reverberate on day two as more players revealed approaches after a BBC and BuzzFeed report said corruption was widespread in the sport.

“Always the first rounds are really tough but I’m really excited to be back here and into the second round”.

And retired Briton Arvind Parmar told how he was once offered a cash-stuffed envelope to lose a match, one hour before he stepped on court at a Challenger tournament in the Netherlands.

The set was finally hers after a tough 49 minutes, but only after she threw away five set points. “I know Kirsten. I played against her two times before and I knew it was going to be a complicated match, because she doesn’t have the common style of other women on the tour”, Muguruza said.

On another sizzling day in Melbourne, sweat-drenched Murray doused the challenge of exciting German prospect Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 to get his campaign underway.

Against Konta, however, she struggled to connect with her first serve and couldn’t match the Australian-born Konta’s power from the baseline.

And 2015 semi-finalist Madison Keys overpowered Zarina Diyas 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 with the American hitting 25 winners.

“I think I’m feeling in the best shape body-wise, spirit-wise, everything-wise”, Azarenka said after her second-round win.

But Davenport couldn’t travel fulltime with Keys because of her family and commentating responsibilities, so Keys is now working with former ATP player Jesse Levine.

The 22-year-old, who was forced to retire 10 days ago from a match at the Brisbane International because of the injury, will take on 86th-ranked Estonian Anett Kontaveit in her opening match Down Under.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams, who won the inaugural WTA Elite Trophy in 2015 as well as tournaments in Auckland and Wuhan, never got her game going.