Australian Open: Wozniacki cruises into second round

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-3 to cruise into the second round of the Australian Open.

Caroline Wozniacki in action against Mihaela Buzarnesc in the first round.

Caroline Wozniacki keep her quest for a first Grand Slam title on course at the Australian Open on Monday, cruising into the second round.

The second seeded Dane overcame tricky Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2, 6-3 on Margaret Court Arena in an hour and 11 minutes.

READ: Venus ousted by Bencic at Aus Open

She will next play either Japan's Misa Eguchi or Croatia's Jana Fett.

It had looked plain sailing for the woman who won the prestigious season-ending WTA Tour championships in Singapore when she raced through the first set in just 29 minutes and then took a 2-0 lead in the second.

But the 44th-ranked left-hander Buzarnescu, sporting a heavily taped shoulder, would not lie down and broke Wozniacki twice to lead 3-2.

Undaunted, the experienced Wozniacki, who first rose to world number one in 2010, reasserted her dominance, taking four games in a row to close out with a cry of "come on".

"I knew it as going to be tough and I had to try to fight for every point," said Wozniacki, who played an almost flawless match with just five unforced errors to her opponent's 33.

"We know each other very well as we played each other like a million times in the juniors," she said of Buzarnescu, who made her first WTA final appearance last week in Hobart. "I knew she would be a dangerous floater."

Earlier in the day fifth seed Venus Williams, 10th seed CoCo Vandeweghe and 13th seed and reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens all made early exits, throwing Wozniacki's side of the draw wide open.