Li blasts past Bencic

Melbourne - Chinese fourth seed Li Na was forced to dig deep against teenager Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open on Wednesday before blasting past the Swiss qualifier in straight sets.

With the temperature hitting 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) before the pair even stepped on court at 11:00 am, Li booked a third round berth with a 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) victory in 80 minutes.

Results from the Australian Open on Wednesday:

Men's singles

2nd round

Tomas Berdych (CZE x7) bt Kenny De Schepper (FRA) 6-4, 6-1, 6-3

Richard Gasquet (FRA x9) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-4

Damir Dzumhur (BIH) bt Ivan Dodig (CRO) 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 4-1 ret

Florian Mayer (GER) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x14) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Women's singles

2nd round

Li Na (CHN x4) bt Belinda Bencic (SUI) 6-0, 7-6 (7/5)

Lucie Safarova (CZE x26) bt Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x22) bt Irina Falconi (USA) 6-2, 7-5

Monica Niculescu (ROU) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER x15) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Mona Barthel (GER) bt Luksika Kumkhum (THA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Vesna Dolonc (SRB) 6-1, 6-2

Flavia Pennetta (ITA x28) bt Monica Puig (PUR) 6-3, 6-4