Ivanovic beat Italian Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena.
Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic had a little more trouble advancing. She held on for a 6-4, 7-5 win over Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.
Jankovic needed a medical timeout for treatment on her right foot in the first set and was broken three times in a tougher-than-expected, 1-hour, 46-minute match.
Ivanovic lost the last Australian Open final to Maria Sharapova, then won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and gained the No. 1 ranking.
Now seeded fifth, she is drawing inspiration from her last run here. Sharapova is not defending the title because of a shoulder injury.
“I was in this situation before French Open last year, coming into the tournament as pretty serious finalist,” she said. “That experience will help me a lot to approach this Australian Open.”
Dictating play and ripping winners into the corners, Ivanovic repeatedly took advantage of Brianti’s weak serve. The 28-year-old Italian held serve only three times.
No. 169-ranked Brianti needed treatment for her lower back and took a medical time out after getting broken to fall behind 3-0 in the second set.
She returned to break Ivanovic’s serve and held to pull back to 3-2, but lost the next three games. Ivanovic, pushing the limits with her shots, had the same number of winners as unforced errors (26).
ALSO ON THIS STORY
Discuss: Sound off on tennis at Newsvine.comShe won 17 of her 27 net approaches, a sign she’s growing in confidence moving forward.
“I improved a lot since last match. I was committing much more, coming to the net more often,” she said, adding she still had plenty to improve.
“When you come against top players or high-ranked players, you automatically raise your level and your consistency. That’s something that I can do.”
No. 3 Dinara Safina overcame 44 unforced errors in a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova and will next play No. 25 Kaie Kanepi of Estonia.
Safina lost to a qualifier in the first round here last year, but went on to be runner-up at the French Open, take the Olympic silver medal and reach the U.S. Open semifinals.
No. 10 Nadia Petrova had a 6-3, 6-2 win over India’s Sania Mirza. No. 26 Ai Sugiyama of Japan defeated Nathalie Dechy of France 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 and next faces Jankovic.
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