Melbourne - World number one Novak Djokovic got his quest for a fifth Australian
Open title off to a winning start in straight sets on Tuesday.
The
Serb top seed eliminated Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in 1hr
49min on Rod Laver Arena and will next play either Russian Andrey
Kuznetsov or Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Djokovic, who lost to
eventual winner Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of last year's
event, has been troubled by illness in the lead-up to the year's first
major tournament.
But after encountering early problems from the 116th-ranked Bedene he went on to secure passage into the next round.
Seven-time
Grand Slam champion Djokovic broke Bedene's service four times and only
had three break points against his serve in the match.
"For a
first round performance it was pretty good, obviously I still need to
work on a few things, I'm still developing my game," Djokovic said.
"Hopefully, it's going to be better in the next one, but credit to Bedene for playing well today.
"I've
seen him play only once before and on centre court he had nothing to
lose and he has a very quick service motion so it was difficult to read
his serve.
"If you have a good serve, you have a good chance to play a good match, so I am just glad to go through."