Favorites keep cool in Australian sun

By Ossian Shine

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The world's leading tennis players were forced to keep cool heads as Australia's skin-reddening sun burnt down on Melbourne Park on Tuesday at day two of the Australian Open.

A gentle breeze kept temperatures manageable throughout the day but men's third seed Novak Djokovic and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt turned up some heat of their own with barnstorming victories.

Hewitt, a former world number one seeded 19th here, beat Steve Darcis 6-0 6-3 6-0 and Djokovic swatted aside Benjamin Becker 6-0 6-2 7-6.

"I started really well," 20-year-old Djokovic said. "Honestly saying, I was nervous before the match, knowing that I'm a big favorite in the first round."

Hewitt was in intimidating form in front of a home crowd.

"In the end I felt like I could do pretty much what I wanted to do out there and play on my terms, which is good," he said.

"I felt like I went out there and was aggressive and took what I've been working on in practice on to the match court."

Women's fourth seed Ana Ivanovic eased past Romania's Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-3 while second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova swept past France's Nathalie Dechy 6-3 6-1 in just over an hour.

"I just try to do my best every single match," Kuznetsova told the crowd. "Everyone who plays a grand slam is a great player so..."

Sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze was spared the sapping sun when Germany's Andrea Petkovic retired with a knee injury in the first game of their match.

Top seed and world number one Roger Federer opens his campaign for a third consecutive Australian Open title and fourth overall later on Tuesday under lights against Argentine Diego Hartfield.

FORMER CHAMPIONS

Federer is one of three former men's champions on show. The 2002 champion Thomas Johansson lost to Marcos Baghdatis and 2005 winner Marat Safin later takes on Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.

Djokovic oozed confidence in his opener, racing through the first seven games of the match and clinching the opening set in 22 minutes.

Becker, whose claim to fame is that he ended Andre Agassi's career by beating him at the 2006 U.S. Open, had no answers in the second set either and, despite a rally in the third, offered little resistance to the Serb.