Serena progresses as Zhang Ze puts up fight in Australian Open

 China's Zhang Ze returns a shot in the game against Hewitt.

Serena Williams powered through her first match despite slipping awkwardly late as she advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.

The five-time champion rolled her ankle while sliding towards the net but it appeared to be only temporary discomfort and should not affect her 15th Australian Open campaign.

Meanwhile in the men's draw, Zhang Ze failed to break the Chinese men' s Grand Slam duck while Gael Monfils came from two-sets-to-love down to beat his fellow Frenchman, 20-year-old Lucas Pouille.

Tournament organisers had their hearts in their mouths in the second last game of Williams' 6-0, 6-4 win over Belgium's Alison van Uytvanck after she hyper-extended her back foot while sliding.

Williams, whose last Australian Open title came in 2010, gingerly retreated to the baseline for her next service but she pushed through to hold serve before breaking the Belgian to advance to the second round.

Williams will need to be at her best in her next match when she meets Vera Zvonareva, who was runner-up at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2010.

China's Zhang performed admirably in four sets against Australia's former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in front of 15,000 rowdy Australians but could not become the first Chinese man since 1959 to reach a Grand Slam second round.

Despite saving four match points - three with his trademark bullet-like forehand - Zhang could not control his game and suffered for a poor third set, eventually losing 6-3, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4.

Zhang' \s aggressive style and dominant second set stifled the home crowd as he quickly evened the contest.

But Zhang could not maintain the pressure in the third as his smaller opponent began to dictate play.

"I knew he was going to be really flashy and I was going to have to weather the storm when he had a run-on of games," said Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion.

"I thought hopefully he was going to have a bit of a lapse of concentration.

"I wanted to change the momentum as much as possible."

Zhang' \s tendency to aggressively hit out saw the unforced error count reach 62 and dwarfed his 39 winners.

But his aggression did keep him in the match, at least temporarily, after he brilliantly guided two consecutive down-the-line returns to break back and level the fourth set.

However Hewitt soon had Zhang again on the defensive in the tenth and final game.

He now awaits Benjamin Becker in the second round after Becker knocked out the 25th seed Julien Benneteau in four sets.

Wildcard Lucas Pouille had Gael Monfils on the ropes before his elder countryman struck back with interest to triumph 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4.

Pouille will rue the final two points on his serve after his mishit volley at 30-30 was followed by a error in judgement when he left a reachable Monfils lob.

Monfils said, despite Pouille's inability to close out the match, he hoped the "strong and fresh" 20-year-old could become the next big thing in Davis Cup for France.

Women's sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska eased past her Japanese opponent Kurumi Nara despite being broken early.

The 2014 semi-finalist was content with her performance against the diminutive world No. 39, who only narrowly missed a seeding.

Venus Williams, sister of Serena, also advanced with a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win over Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor.

Italy's Flavia Penetta joined the eight female seeds eliminated yesterday after being completely outplayed by her compatriot Camilla Giorgi in the final two sets.

Nerves almost got the better of Giorgi, who wasted her first four match points and served 16 double faults, before winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, seeded 15th, was demolished by Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 6-4.

German No.13 seed Andrea Petkovic suffered similar fate after being edged out 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 by American journeywoman Madison Brengle.

Radwanska said having only 21 of 32 seeds progress to the second round exemplified the strength of the women's game.

"When I was beginning on the tour...those first couple of rounds were sometimes very easy," said the 25-year-old.

"Now it's not any more. Everybody is playing at a really high level."

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