The obstacle facing all but one woman at the Australian Open is as formidable and imposing as any in the history of the sport.
Serena Williams is so strong, so good and so determined that only extraordinary bad luck will prevent her from winning her 18th grand slam singles title.
But on a first day that failed to produce an obvious threat to Williams’ claim on a title she has won five times, a possible challenger emerged.
Ana Ivanovic, a former world No.1 and a French Open winner, played well enough in her first-round match at the Open on Monday to encourage her to at least think about knocking over the best player in the world.
“It’s tennis, it can go either way,” Ivanovic said.
“Serena is definitely the hot favourite. She’s been playing amazing tennis, she’s on top of the women’s game. There’s no doubt about that.
“But I think a lot of girls are up for the challenge … you just want to go out there and give your best and you never know what can happen on any given day.”
For Ivanovic, there have been few “given days” since her French Open triumph in 2008.
In the 22 grand slam championships she’s played since, the 26-year-old made only one quarter-final.
But the 14th seed won her first tournament in two years last weekend and carried the form into the first round of the Open where she scored a comprehensive 6-4 6-4 win over Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens.
On a day of predictable results, Ivanovic was joined in the second round by China’s two-time Australian Open runner-up Li Na, the beaten finalist last year and the closest player from the top half of the draw to Williams.
Li had an even easier day, beating Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-2 6-0 in only 61 minutes and earning a second-round meeting with Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic, a winner in three sets over veteran Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm.
Li’s win came in her first match at the Open since she lost last year’s final to Victoria Azarenka, who begins her 2014 campaign on Tuesday.
Li said she knows nothing about Bencic.
“I know she played Kimiko today, but I had to prepare for my match so I didn’t really see much – so I will try to find it on the internet,” Li said.
Li had the advantage of playing in relatively mild conditions that are expected to be followed by 40C-plus temperatures on Tuesday.
“It was very lucky we play today – tomorrow is the worst,” she said.
The biggest upset on the opening day was the defeat of Italian seventh seed Sara Errani, who lost 6-3 6-2 to Julia Gorges of Germany.
In other matches, 22nd seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat the unseeded Venus Williams 2-6 6-4 6-4, while American Irina Falconi crushed Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-1.
Ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 0-6 6-2 and Belgian 18th seed Kirsten Flipkens defeated Britain’s Laura Robson 6-3 6-0.
The first Australian victory at the Open came from the unseeded Casey Dellacqua, who accounted for Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-2.