Melbourne, January 17:

Martina Hingis looked like she’d never been away.

Playing on the centre court where she won three of her five Grand Slam titles before retiring for three years, the 25-year-old Swiss was right at home in the first major of her comeback effort, routing 30th-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Australian Open.

It was an easy day overall for the Swiss, with top-seeded Roger Federer beating a player that he met for the first time just before the match. He ousted Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt survived a scare, rallying again and again to beat the Czech Republic’s Robin Vik 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in 3 hours, 45 minutes.

On the women’s side, No 2 Kim Clijsters advanced 6-3, 6-0, winning the last 11 games after dropping serve twice against South Korea’s Cho Yoon-jeong. Third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo struggled at times in a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over China’s Sun Tiantian. Fifth-seeded Mary Pierce breezed past local wild-card entry Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-1. No 7 Patty Schnyder and No 12 Anastasia Myskina also advanced.

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza moved into the second round with a convincing 7-6, 6-2 victory over junior world champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. She faces Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands in the second round.

Tommy Haas, the former No 2-ranked player who upset Federer in the Kooyong exhibition last week, had a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 win over 14th-seeded Richard Gasquet. Gasquet was one of only four players to beat Federer in 2005.

Unlike Hingis, Australia’s Mark Philippoussis saw his comeback effort blunnted, losing to 25th-seeded Sebastien Grsojean of France. No 5 Nikolay Davydenko, No 6 Guillermo Coria, No 9 Fernando Gonzalez, No 12 Dominik Hrbaty and No 15 Juan Carlos Ferrero all advanced. Chela ousted Andy Murray, leaving Britain without a player in the second round.