Australian Open: Serena Williams and Li Na through to third round

Top seed Serena Williams was in no mood to hang around in the scorching Melbourne heat as she stormed into the third round of the Australian Open.

With the temperature once again touching 40 degrees, 17-time grand slam champion Williams brushed aside the challenge of world No 104 Vesna Dolonc with minimal fuss.

Russian-born Serbian Dolonc did excite the crowd on occasion, but those moments were too infrequent and Williams wasted little time in sealing a 6-1 6-2 win in 63 minutes.

However, Williams claims the opressive heat in Melbourne has not been an issue for here.

"I think I probably feel it more in my head, not necessarily in my chest," she said. "But so far I have been okay.

"I have been training for a long, long time in the heat in Florida and I have been coming to Melbourne for years and years.

"So you just have to be ready for those hot conditions and just try to get through it.

Heat was again a factor in Melbourne on day three of the Australian Open.

"I think the conditions today in my match was OK. I wasn't here yesterday. I heard they were a little bit extreme (but) I didn't really even go outside yesterday. For my match today, it was OK to play."

Lucky

Li Na survived a second-set scare to see off 16-year-old Belinda Bencic 6-0 7-6 in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena.

Li said: "I think I was lucky, you know, because at least they put me in the first (session). So I can finish the match before 1pm.

"Yesterday, I was practising earlier to try to play little bit in the heat."

Li will play Lucie Safarova after the Czech 26th seed beat compatriot Lucie Hradecka 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 6-0.

Fellow seed Angelique Kerber, Flavia Pennetta and Ekaterina Makarova came through their second round games in straight sets.

Ninth seed Kerber cruised past Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4 6-2, Pennetta, ranked 28th in Melbourne, saw off Monica Puig 6-3 6-4, while No 22 seed Makarova overcame the challenge of Irina Falconi 6-2 7-5.

It wasn't all plain sailing for the seeds with 15th-ranked Sabine Lisicki crashing out at the hands of Monica Niculescu.

An error-strewn encounter saw Niculescu keep her cool to record a 2-6 6-2 6-2 victory.

However Luksika Kumkhum failed to build on her shock win over Petra Kvitova in the first round as she lost 4-6 6-3 6-4 to Mona Barthel.