Serena Williams and Carla Suarez through to second round of the Australian Open

Serena is considered as the favourite to win the Australian Open title

United States tennis icon Serena Williams and Spanish Carla Suarez advanced to the second round of the Australian Open on Monday after winning their first round matches.

Serena defeated Italian Camila Giorgi 6-4, 7-5 in an hour and 45 minutes, while Suarez won 7-5, 6-4 over Swiss Viktorija Golubic after one hour and 43 minutes, reports Efe.

Serena, 21-time Major singles champion, is set to face the winner of the first round match between Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei in the second round of the tennis tournament.

Suarez will face Greek Maria Sakkari, who beat Chinese Wang Yafan.