Ferrer flies through

World No.5 David Ferrer has made light work of his first-up assignment at the Australian Open, demolishing Portugal's Rui Machada in straight sets.

Ferrer, a semi-finalist in Melbourne 12 months ago, looked in supreme touch as he vanquished the world No.70 6-1 6-4 6-2 in an hour and 44 minutes.

The Spaniard broke Machado in the fourth and sixth games of the first set to set the standard for the match, racing to a one-set lead in just 32 minutes on the back of seven winners.

Machado broke back in the second game of the second set, but Ferrer fired back, as unforced errors handed the advantage back to the fifth seed in the seventh and ninth games, and he took a vice-like hold of the match.

Breaks in the first and third game then set Ferrer well on his way to a second-round clash with either Ryan Sweeting or Matthais Bachinger, and he wrapped up the third set in just 28 minutes.

Lower profile seeds Kei Nishikori from Japan (24) and Alex Bogomolov Jr (32) also made progress early on Tuesday.

Nishikori got past France's Stephane Robert in three sets, 6-1 7-6 (9-7) 6-0, while Bogomolov Jr had a similarly easy time against Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Germany's Philipp Petzschner thrashed Czech Lukas Rosol, dropping just two games, while Colombian Santiago Giraldo easily outpointed Italian Matteo Viola to make the second round of this tournament for the third consecutive year.