Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis took a pretty good first step towards clinching their first Australian Open title together with a comfortable first round victory on Thursday.
Hingis and Sania are the overwhelming favourites for the women's doubles title, having won the final two Grand Slams last year and the WTA Tour Finals crown. The Indian-Swiss pair started 2016 strong as well, and they asserted their dominance on the South American pair of Mariana Duque-Marino and Teliana Pereira on Thursday, winning the contest 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and eight minutes.
Rohan Bopanna also progressed to the next round of the men's doubles after a straight-set win in company of his Romanian partner Florin Mergea. Seeded four, Bopanna and Mergea beat the young Australian pair of Omar Jasika and Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in the men's singles, Andy Murray put in another authoritative performance, thumping home favourite Sam Groth 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 31 minutes.
Expected to give Murray a workout, Groth never got into the swing of things, with the world number two in control from the off.
"I thought I managed to fight back in the second set," Groth told reporters. "Not ideal conditions for me. Had a bad serving day against the No. 2 player in the world. Probably not going to cut it.
"Felt all right going out there until I started hitting a lot, and then I was pretty nervous. My serve was sort of out. Like I said, if I don't serve well against a guy -- I know I have to have probably one of my best serving days against -- I'm in a bit of trouble.
"There were a few nerves. I wasn't making first serves. Wasn't making first volleys. He's too good of a player not to do that against. Not a guy you want to get behind against either."
In other men's matches, Gael Monfils won the all-French battle against Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 6-4, 6-1, while Milos Raonic pulled off a hard-fought 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory over the experienced Tommy Robredo.
The women's singles section did not see any major upsets, as the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Ana Ivanovic and Garbine Muguruza all made their passage into the third round of the 2016 Australian Open. Jelena Jankovic, the No.19 seed, though, saw her time at the 2016 Australian Open come to an end with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss to Laura Siegemund of Germany.
