Sixth seed Pliskova cruises to victory

Melbourne - Karolina Pliskova wasted little time in getting out of the heat and back to the sanctuary of the locker room with a 44-minute Australian Open cruise on Thursday. 

The tattooed sixth seed sped past Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-1, 6-1 as the mercury nudged towards a sweltering 39 Celsius (102 Farenheit) at Melbourne Park. 

The Czech's serene progress will mark her out as one of the favourites to win a first Grand Slam on a day when the draw lost number three seed Garbine Muguruza and number nine Johanna Konta.

Pliskova next faces fellow Czech and 29th seed Lucie Safarova, who also enjoyed a straightforward passage to the third round, 6-2, 6-4 against Sorana Cirstea of Romania.