Tennis: Mauresmo cruises through opening round

Amelie Mauresmo of France during her first round match against Shenay Perry of the USA. Photo / Getty Images

MELBOURNE - Amelie Mauresmo cruised through the opening match of her Australian Open title defence, beating American Shenay Perry 6-3 6-4 at Melbourne Park today.

Perry fought hard in the first set before the Frenchwoman gained the decisive break in the eighth game.

The second-seeded Mauresmo eased to a 5-1 lead in the second set.

The American then strung together three successive games before Mauresmo finally wrapped the match up in 74 minutes.

Her second-round opponent on Wednesday will be Russian Olga Poutchkova who beat Marta Domachowksa of Poland 6-2 6-4 today.

- AAP