No.10 seed Francesca Schiavone has made a shock second-round exit from the Australian Open at the hands of fellow Italian Romina Oprandi.
There were no such worries for defending champion Kim Clijsters though, the Belgian blasting her way into the third round as she raced past hapless Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz-Gacon in just 47 minutes.
And fifth seed Li Na, No.13 seed Jelena Jankovic and 20th seed Daniela Hantuchova are among the other winners so far on Day Three at Melbourne Park, although Hantuchova had to do it the hard way.
A day after local hope and sixth seed Sam Stosur crashed out in the first round, Schiavone never settled and paid the price against world no.80 Oprandi, who began the match with her left thigh heavily strapped and sought treatment regularly throughout a contest she won 6-4 6-3.
As well as seemingly battling either a thigh or hamstring injury, Oprandi also had to have work done on her right foot as well, leading to Schiavone complaining to the chair umpire late in the match.
But the ailments had little impact on Oprandi's performance as she booked her place in the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time, where she will meet German No.22 seed Julia Georges, who was leading comfortably at 6-2 2-0 when injury forced Greece's Eleni Daniilidou to retire.
After being challenged in the opening round by Portugal's Maria Joao Koehler on Monday, Clijsters went up a gear as she simply unleashed on the unfortunate Foretz Gacon, who was making her first appearance at Melbourne Park in five years.
Playing an opponent who had never been beyond the third round at a major and was through to the second round for just the second time at the Australian Open, Clijsters was in a ruthless mood as she won 6-0 6-1.
The gulf between Clijsters and her opponent came in the winners count, with the Belgian No.11 seed hitting 16 to just two while she also converted five of eight break points and only had to save one herself for the entire match.
While three-time US Open champion Clijsters cruised through, her next opponent had to work much harder against Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, Hantuchova recovering from a set and a break down to win 4-6 6-4 6-3.
The woman Clijsters beat to lift the trophy at Melbourne Park 12 months ago, Li, had a similarly easy progression earlier at Rod Laver Arena when she brushed aside local wildcard Olivia Rogowska 6-2 6-2 just over an hour.
The Wimbledon champion's reward for her comfortable progression is a third-round match-up against Spanish 26th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, who gave little away in a 6-1 6-0 victory over Belarusian Olga Govortsova.
Jankovic, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park in 2008 and beaten finalist at the US Open later the same year, had little trouble accounting for Taipei's Kai-Chen Chang 6-4 6-2, setting up a duel with Kiwi Marina Erakovic or American Christina McHale.
Li's compatriot Peng Shuai, the 16th seed, was no match for Iveta Benesova, who won the first set and then retrieved a break in the second en route to an impressive 6-2 6-4 win, and next up for the Czech is Russian Nina Bratchikova following her 6-2 6-1 demolition of Italian Alberta Brianti.