The world number two Dinara Safina overcame a poor service and a string of errors to advance to the second round of the Australian tennis Open.
Last year's beaten finalist at Melbourne Park committed nine double faults and 39 unforced errors, before she eventually beat a dogged Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-4 in the first match on Hisense Arena.
The 23-year-old Russian had her serve broken twice by the Slovak but managed to convert four of her own break opportunities to come through in 89 minutes.
Safina next plays the winner of the match between Russian qualifer Regina Kulikova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
