World number one Ash Barty comfortably confirmed her place in week two of the Australian Open beating Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3.
In recent seasons, Barty had been weighted down by expectations on her home territory.
This was far from the case against Giorgi as Barty snuffed out any chance of an upset with a near fault-less performance.
Both players came out striking the ball well, but it was the top seed that broke first racing into a 2-0 lead.
Giorgi was landing some stunning groundstrokes, but this was not enough to stop Barty, who broke again at the end of the first set to clinch it 6-2.
The Australian held to love at the beginning of the second set as the Italian looked to find a way back into the match.
Barty began to find her groove and moved her opponent around the court with some sublime shot making.
The Italian kept things interesting but was eventually broken as the top seed took a 4-2 lead.
With the crowd behind her, Barty continued to hold serve, engineering three match points, but she only needed one.
After the match, Barty chatted to former champion Jim Courier and had this to say.
“Yeah, I thought tonight was really clean. I thought I looked after my service games really well. I did well to come out of a really tricky one at love-40 down. Overall, a pretty good performance I think,” she said.
The home favourite also praised Giorgi’s performance.
“Yeah, I thought I was out of my weight class, that’s for sure. The way she hits the ball and can control the centre of the court is incredible.
“It was my job to get her off that baseline, whether it was short, or it was deep, or it was out of her strike zone.
“It’s tough when you’re up against the wind but I think I was able to use my slice effectively,” she said.
A much tougher test awaits the Aussie in American star Amanda Anisimova, as the 20-year-old stunned four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in three sets.
