Ana Ivanovic going home early again

Former world number one Ana Ivanovic continued her disappointing grand slam form since winning the 2008 French Open as she was bundled out of the Australian Open in the second round.

The Serbian has failed to get past the fourth round in seven majors since her Roland Garros triumph and today fell to the 36th-ranked Gisela Dulko 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-4.

The 22-year-old was a finalist at Melbourne Park two years ago, but her ranking has slipped to 21 as she has struggled with her form and after today's loss admitted she was becoming frustrated with her early exits.

"It hurts, I must say," she said.

"I think I just have to be patient. It will take some time. I do feel better on the court. I feel like my old self.

"There are still some areas that are not there for me to rely on when I need them the most. Some matches it's there, some not."

Defending champion Serena Williams and her sister, Venus, both had comfortable straight-sets win on the Hisense Arena.

Younger sister Serena took just over an hour to brush aside the challenge of unseeded 19-year-old Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-1.

It was a wholly dominant display from the world number one who dropped just three points on her first serve while winning more than half of the points on Kvitova's service.

Serena will next play 32nd seed Carla Suarez Navarro who beat Germany's Andrea Petkovic 6-1 6-4 today.

Sixth seed Venus, who is chasing her first Australian Open title at the age of 29, claimed her second consecutive straight-sets win as she was similarly untroubled by Sybille Bammer 6-2 7-5.

Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki played for the second consecutive day but showed no ill-effects with a trouble-free 6-3 6-1 win over Germany's Julia Goerges.

Belarus' Victoria Azarenka reached the third round of a grand slam for the 11th consecutive occasion with a simple 6-4 6-0 victory over Stefanie Voegele.

Ninth seed Vera Zvonareva will meet Ivanovic's conqueror Dulko in the third round after the ninth seed defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0 6-3.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the 10th seed, and 17th seed Francesca Schiavone both had straight-sets wins and will now meet in the last 32.

Australia's top hope Samantha Stosur (13) will avoid a seed in the next round, however, after the Queenslander beat Kristina Barrois 7-5 6-3.

Unseeded Italian Alberta Brianti awaits after she upset Sabine Lisicki, the 21st seed, 2-6 6-4 6-4.

Other seeded players to progress today were China's Na Li (16), Daniela Hantuchova (22) and Shahar Peer (29).