Serbs advance in Melbourne while Roddick routs Swede

By Ossian Shine

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Serb battlers Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic locked in their second round spots at the Australian Open Monday while Andy Roddick routed a sacrificial Swede on a sun-baked Day One of the season''s opening grand slam.

World number one Jankovic muscled her way past Austria''s Yvonne Meusburger 6-1 6-3 while Ivanovic, runner-up here 12 months ago, squeaked past German Julia Goerges 7-5 6-3 in a less-than-convincing performance.

"I don''t expect myself to step on the court and play perfect tennis from very first moment," Ivanovic told reporters, putting on a brave face.

If the mark of a champion is to win when playing poorly, the former world number one could be stamping her name on the Open trophy in a little under two weeks'' time.

Whatever Swede Bjorn Rehnquist had expected from his third grand slam appearance, the 31-year-old may think twice before attempting to qualify again after the pummeling he received at the hands of a ruthless Roddick.

The American seventh seed, Australian boys'' champion in 2000, four years after Rehnquist had earned that accolade, smashed the Swede 6-0 6-2 6-2.

"X-MAN" NEXT

He will next face "the X-Man" Xavier Malisse after the Belgian beat France''s Michael Llodra 7-6 6-1 6-1.

"Xavier is tough. He won pretty handily today. He''s got matches behind him. I think everyone knows he''s extremely capable when healthy. So, you know, I''ll have to be ready," Roddick said.

"He''s been in the semis of a grand slam before. I think his track record speaks for how dangerous he can be."

Roddick''s blockbuster performance Monday illustrated how dangerous he can be.

"A match like that, you got to go out and beat somebody. He''s gonna put the ball in the court. He''s probably not gonna do much to kind of blow you off the court.

"But you got to go and execute. I was able to do that today. You know, it was a good start."

Russian seventh seed Vera Zvonareva also made a good start, ousting Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 6-0.

Jankovic was comfortable with her game after her victory although suffered a little with the heat.  Continued...