Scare for Serena; Federer, Murray canter

Serena Williams frightened a few people, including herself. Defending champion Victoria Azarenka had a momentary lack of concentration. Two of the biggest names on the men's side at the Australian Open — Roger Federer and Andy Murray — had straight-set wins.

Day Two at Melbourne Park on Tuesday brought another day of perfect weather but a few anxious moments for Williams, who fell awkwardly on her right ankle in her 6-0 6-0 win over No. 110-ranked Edina Gallovits-Hall.

Williams had the ankle heavily taped by trainers and still dominate the Romanian player. Later, she said she hoped to continue playing and maintain her quest of winning her third Grand Slam tournament in a row and sixth Australian Open. Azarenka trailed 3-0 in the second set of her match with Monica Niculescu before leveling the set at 4-4 and winning 6-1 6-4.

Murray, playing with more confidence since his US Open win beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3 6-1 6-3. The second-seeded Federer defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-2 6-4 6-1.

In other men's matches, No. 6 Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic of Canada, who beat Jan Hajek 3-6 6-1 6-2 7-6 (0), 14 Gilles Simon, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Andreas Seppi and No. 25 Florian Mayer advanced. Frenchman Gael Monfils beat No. 18 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-7 (7) 7-6 (4) 6-3 6-3, and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen ousted Tommy Haas 7-6 (3) 4-6 6-3 4-6 8-6.

In other women's matches, Caroline Wozniacki won the last six games to beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 2-6 6-3 6-3 to advance along with Roberta Vinci, Lucie Safarova and Sloane Stephens, who beat Simona Halep of Romania 6-1 6-1. No. 20 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium beat local hope Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1 7-5. Also, No. 14 Maria Kirilenko had a 6-4 6-2 win over Vania King, and China's Peng Shuai beat Canada's Rebecca Marino 6-3 6-0.

... contd.

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