Venus Williams sported a new look today but it
couldn't disguise a rusty game as the number three seed struggled to join sister Serena in the second round of the Australian Open.
Williams, who hasn't played a singles game since October, recovered to take the match against Jose Maria Martinez of Spain 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 in just under one-and-a-half hours.
"I didn't feel like I was playing my top form throughout the match but it's a good thing to have a little test in the first round." she said.
Serena, the sixth seed, had no such trouble, ousting Taiwan's Janet Lee 6-1, 6-4.
Gustavo Kuerten, the number one men's seed despite never going beyond the second round here, made a meal of beating Argentinian Gaston Gaudio 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5.
And Michael Chang was beaten 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 by France's Fabrice Santoro.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov found the going easier, setting up a tough second round clash with Nicolas Kiefer after demolishing another German, Jens Knippschild, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Carlos Moya, continued his comeback from a lower back stress fracture suffered at the 1999 US Open with a straight sets victory over former world number one Marcelo Rios.
Also safely through are Swedish fourth seed Magnus Norman, Frenchmen Sebastien Grosjean (16) and Arnaud Clement (15), and South African Wayne Ferreira.
Among the women Amanda Coetzer hammered Canada's Sonya Jeyaseelan for a second round contest with in-form Silvija Talaja of Croatia while 1995 champion Mary Pierce scored a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Austria's Sylvia Plischke.
AFP