Ominous warning from Federer as Aussie Open takes shape

The Swiss maestro needed only an hour and 39 minutes to overcome the 47th-ranked Romanian 6-2 6-3 6-2 under the Rod Laver Arena lights.

It was a convincing performance at the end of a day on which just one seed fell out of the men's draw - 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis came from two sets down to beat 17th seed David Ferrer 4-6 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 6-1.

Third seed Novak Djokovic, the in-form Nikolay Davydenko, 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and last year's semi-finalist Fernando Verdasco all progressed as the reputation for surprises at the season-opening grand slam continued to be undermined.

Robin Soderling, the eighth seed, remains the only player inside the top 12 to have been eliminated after he lost in the opening round.

In the women's draw, defending champion Serena Williams swept into the third round with a 6-2 6-1 win over unseeded teenager Petra Kvitova in little over an hour and then claimed: "I could have played a lot better."

It was a wholly dominant display from the world No 1, who dropped just three points on her first serve while winning more than half of the points on Kvitova's service.

Williams is chasing a fifth title at Melbourne Park and ominously for her rivals said afterwards she was already nearing peak form and fitness.

"I thought today was a little bit better than my match in my first round," said Williams, who had come into the tournament under a fitness cloud after limping through her defeat against Elena Dementieva in the final at Sydney last week.

"I felt like I was moving better and I had better energy. I just felt all around a lot better.

"I don't think I'm that far (from full fitness) and I felt like I could have actually played a lot better today."

Williams will next play 32nd seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Germany's Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-4 today.

Sixth seed Venus Williams, who is chasing her first Australian Open title at the age of 29, claimed her second consecutive straight-sets win as she was similarly untroubled by Sybille Bammer 6-2 7-5.

It was the second left-hander Williams has played and she will meet another in the last 32 after unseeded Australian Casey Dellacqua defeated Karolina Sprem 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (8/6) in the final match today.

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic continued her disappointing grand slam form since winning the 2008 French Open as she was bundled out by 36th-ranked Gisela Dulko 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-4.