Williams, Azarenka advance to 3rd round in Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams walked on court cautiously and tried to keep the points short to avoid irritating her injured right ankle as she advanced to the third round at the Australian Open.

Summoning all the experience she's gained winning 15 major championships, including the last two in succession, Williams lifted her tempo when she absolutely had to — winning an 18-minute game to open the second set, finally cashing in on her fourth break point. Nineteen minutes later, she finished off a 6-2, 6-0 win Thursday over No. 112-ranked Garine Muguruza of Spain.

Apart from a swollen lip, after hitting herself in the face with her racket in the sixth game, the injury status wasn't bad.

"It feels better," Williams said of her ankle. Before the match, "I was just doing everything you can do — icing to massage. I woke up this morning and thought ... 'Oh my God, it feels good. '

"I'll keep my fingers crossed."

Despite the injury concerns, Williams she said she'd be playing doubles later with her sister Venus, and will play her next singles match against Japan's Ayumi Morita on Saturday.

Defending champion Victoria Azarenka virtually danced onto Rod Laver Arena in the match before Willliams, and said she's starting to find some rhythm after beating Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 6-0 in 55 minutes.

With temperatures later reaching 39 Celsius (102F), Azarenka didn't want to be out in the heat.

"I felt like I'm back into the competitive mode," she said. "I was really focused — that was for sure the best part of the game for me."

The No. 94-ranked Daniilidou only won 10 points in the first set and, despite having triple break point in the fourth game of the second, couldn't win a game in the second set.

Top-ranked Azarenka had her friend, musician RedFoo, in the stands watching and signing autographs, and said she went onto the court listening to a "great mix of disco music and a little bit of new music. I really start to like it a lot — there's no words really."

The 23-year-old Belarusian won her first Grand Slam title here last year, during a 26-match winning streak to start the season.

"It's pretty difficult to duplicate something like that," she said. "All I can do is try."

She didn't win another major in 2012, despite being close to victory in the U.S. Open final against Serena Williams, but held the No. 1 ranking for most of the season.

Also advancing to the third round were No. 14 Maria Kirilenko, who beat China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2, No. 16 Roberta Vinci and Elena Vesnina, who beat No. 21-seeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-4, 6-2.

On the men's side, 2008 Australian final Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Japan's Go Soeda 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-3, No. 17 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany beat Israeli qualifier Amir Weintraub 6-2, 7-6 (4,) 6-4 and Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis defeated No. 25 Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

Azarenka and Serena Williams' lopsided wins came a day after No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova, the woman she beat in the Australian final last year, recorded her second 6-0, 6-0 win of the tournament.

The No. 2-ranked Sharapova overwhelmed Japan's Misaki Doi in 47 minutes Wednesday, even less time than she'd needed to beat fellow Russian Olga Puchkova two days earlier in her first competitive match of 2013.

Now the first woman to post back-to-back 6-0, 6-0 wins at a Grand Slam since 1985, Sharapova now plays seven-time major winner Venus Williams in the third round.

"It's not really the statistic I want to be known for," Sharapova said. "I want to be known for winning Grand Slams."