Russia's Nicole Vaidisova after her 6-2, 6-1 win over Milagros Sequera of Venezuela at the Australian Open on Wednesday. (AFP)

Melbourne: The early jitters are over. Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Amelie Mauresmo and Serena Williams all posted straight-set victories on Wednesday to advance to the third round of the Australian Open, serving notice they’re rounding into form after some opening-match nerves and glitches.

But Marcos Baghdatis, last year’s losing finalist to Federer and a crowd darling, was ousted by Frenchman Gael Monfils, who shrugged off a sore foot to advance 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-0, winning over thousands of fans with his enthusiastic style.

Travelling down distinctly different roads on Wednesday, Roddick and Marat Safin headed for an explosive third-round collision.

The American sixth seed came out firing against Frenchman Marc Gicquel and accelerated to a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win. Safin, champion in 2005, again chose a more winding route.

He made things difficult for himself as he was stretched to five sets for a second successive match before steering past Israeli qualifier Dudi Sela 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-0. The Russian has now won 26 of 37 five-set matches in his career but cannot afford such lapses against a man who owns the fastest serve in the game.

“We’re both better than a third round match-up against each other but that’s the way it shakes out,” said Roddick.

“We both have to deal with it. I’m sure he’s not thrilled about it either.”

Safin was shaky in going the distance for the second consecutive match, benefiting from a rain break to rally from a set down.

Play was halted with Safin serving at 5-6, 30-30 in the fourth set. After the roof was closed, Safin came out sharp, serving an ace on the first point and running through the tie-breaker against Sela, who lived down to his No. 202 ranking the rest of the way.

Baghdatis, seeded 11th, couldn’t hope for such intervention, as the roof stayed closed for his match against the 20-year-old Monfils, who was plagued last year by a stress fracture in his left foot and sprains to his right.

Defending woman’s champion Mauresmo, seeded second, brushed aside Olga Poutchkova 6-2, 6-2 and next faces unseeded Eva Birnerova. Williams, a two-time champion here but unseeded after dealing with a knee injury, will play No.5 Nadia Petrova. She relished the prospect.

“It’s definitely a step up,” she said. “I feel excited to go into the match. I feel ready.”

On a much cooler day after searing heat postponed several matches on Tuesday, top-ranked Federer generated his own heat, ripping six forehand winners in the first three games while dominating Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Federer next meets US Open semi-finalist Mikhail Youzhny after the 25th-seeded Russian beat Lu Yen-hsen of Taiwan 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke upset No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero to oust the former world No. 1.