Li Na serves in her first-round match against Ana Konjuh of Croatia on the first day of the 2014 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia on Monday. Photo: CFP

Li Na and Serena Williams led the march into the Australian Open second round on Monday but former great ­Venus Williams and sixth seed Petra Kvitova crashed out in the Melbourne heat.

World No.1 Serena crushed local hope Ashleigh Barty 6-2, 6-1 in clinical fashion to reinforce her position as title favorite as she hunts for an 18th Grand Slam crown to match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

Victory over Barty, 17, set up a second-round clash with Serbia's Vesna Dolonc, with Williams on track to meet charismatic fourth seed Li in the semifinals.

The Chinese demolished 16-year-old Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-0 as she set about ending her tournament jinx.

Li has made the final at Melbourne Park twice before, leading both times before being overcome by Kim Clijsters in 2011 and Victoria Azarenka last year, and she is determined to go one better this time round.

"I think it was very lucky we played today. Tomorrow will be the worse," said Li, adding that she moved her practice on Tuesday, when temperatures are forecast to soar, to an earlier slot. "I didn't want to kill myself on the court."

Her easy win set up a second-round clash with another qualifier in Swiss ­Belinda Bencic, who beat 43-year-old Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, 27 years her senior.

The unseeded Venus, wilting in the midday heat, lost to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova over three sets while Italian seventh seed Sara Errani went out to ­Julia Goerges.

Former Wimbledon champion ­Kvitova, the sixth seed, fell victim to a sensational upset when she was ­ambushed 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 by unheralded Thai Luksika Kumkhum.

China's Zheng Jie stunned 12th seed Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-3 to set a matchup with American Madison Keys in the second round.

Another two Chinese players who played Monday - Zhang Shuai and Tang Haochen - were both ousted in the first round, respectively by Germany's Mona Barthel and Canada's Eugenie ­Bouchard.

In the men's competition, Novak Djokovic's Boris Becker era got underway in low-key fashion.

Djokovic, playing his first competitive match under new coach Becker, was surprisingly sloppy as he took nearly two hours to subdue Slovakia's Lukas Lacko 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 6-1.

"It's my first competitive match this season after a five- to six-week break and I was rusty in the first two sets," ­admitted the Serb, seeking a fourth straight Melbourne title.

Top-10 men's players Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Richard Gasquet went through, accompanied by Jerzy Janowicz and Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko.

China's Wu Di, who became the first Chinese man to play a Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne last year, was ­defeated by France's Kenny de Schepper 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/2).

Wu said China's men were getting closer to winning their first-ever Grand Slam match after his loss.

"Before we didn't have any Chinese [male] players in a Grand Slam. Then last year [the] first time I was in the main draw. This year we have two Chinese players," he said.

Wu's compatriot Zhang Ze will play Spain's Fernando Verdasco, the 31st seed and a former Melbourne semifinalist, on Tuesday in his first-round match.

Agencies - Global Times