The six huge white floodlight pylons of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the scene of England's only Test victory in the recent Ashes series, loom above the adjacent tennis complex in Flinders Park. For Britons it may have been tempting to suppose they acted as totems for their double success on the opening day of the Australian Open.

Tim Henman's 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 first-round victory over Morocco's Karim Alami was both thoroughly professional and free from glitches, whereas Sam Smith's 6-0, 6-3 win over Larisa Neiland, watched by the cricketers Darren Gough and Mark Alleyne, was simply unexpected, for since her invigorating run to the last 16 at Wimbledon the British women's number one had not won a single match on the Tour.

Smith, ranked 64 in the world, was justifiably jubilant, although the 32-year-old Latvian Neiland, who has won millions of dollars on the doubles circuit, was dreadfully poor. Smith next plays Australia's Nicole Pratt, and fancies her chances of making the third round.

Henman's ambitions are obviously much higher. Indeed, as the sixth seed, he is expected to reach the quarter-finals. But as he stepped out on Court No. 2 under glaring bright sunshine, thoughts drifted back to this round last year when he lost in five wretched sets to the Frenchman Jerome Golmard.

"That was the beginning of a real struggle. I was far too cautious then and not aggressive enough, but now I have a greater understanding of my game," said the British number one. "I have a lot more control of my performances and have learned to play to my strengths."

Henman had received a pre-match boost with the news that Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic, his potential fourth-round opponent, had pulled out with a bad back. Later came the dramatic news that Chile's Marcelo Rios, the top seed and last year's beaten finalist, had also succumbed to a back injury and would not hit a ball in anger.

With Pete Sampras having skipped the tournament, citing fatigue, the top seed remaining is Spain's Alex Corretja, the ATP champion in Hanover last November, who came uncomfortably close to a first-day exit before beating Takao Suzuki in five sets, the Japanese player having served for the match in the fourth set.

Henman's opening play was as sharp as his shadow. Alami had an outstanding junior career, winning the boys' doubles at Wimbledon with none other than Rusedski, then a Canadian citizen. But life has been much more tough at senior level and the Moroccan, ranked 56th in the world, had neither the power nor the guile to trouble Henman, who had beaten him this year in the semi-finals of the Doha tournament.

Alami had trouble with his serve and the eighth game of the first set saw the Moroccan doublefault three times, the last to giftwrap Henman the crucial break. Alami hurled his racket at his feet in bitter frustration and never recovered his composure.

With Sampras absent and Rios gone, Henman must sense he has an authentic chance to reach his first Grand Slam final here. His opponent tomorrow will be Sandon Stolle, whose father, Fred, belonged in the golden era of Australian tennis and cast a shadow out of which his 28-year-old son has never really emerged. He is currently ranked outside the top 200, "but he is definitely a much better player than this suggests", said Henman who, despite (or perhaps because of) the news of the withdrawal of Ivanisevic and Rios, steadfastly refused to look beyond this match.

Corretja's ability to win marathon five-set matches is renowned but the second seed, who has never progressed beyond the last 32 here, could not have expected Suzuki, playing his first Grand Slam compared with the Spaniard's 20th, to set him such a prolonged and awkward challenge.

"He played fantastic tennis, particularly his serve," said Corretja, who at 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 4-5 down had to dredge up every scrap of his experience and tenacity to break Suzuki's serve and go on to win the tie-break. By the final set the Japanese was a broken reed and lost 6-2.

Venus Williams, the number five seed, had the biggest scare among the women, eventually beating the little-known 21-year-old Silvija Talaja of Croatia 3-6, 6-3, 9-7.

The Wimbledon champion and third seed Jana Novotna had to come to terms with a hot, humid indoor court before she overcame Anna-Gaelle Sidot of France 6-4, 6-2. It was her first appearance at Melbourne Park since 1995.