A convincing victory marked the start of Magdalena Maleeva's play in Australia's Grand Slam tournament Australian Open 2003. Bulgaria's best tennis player advanced to the second round after she defeated French Marion Bartoli 6/4, 6/1, seeded 105th in WTA. Maleeva, 27 years old, faces Yoon Jeong Cho (KOR), who defeated Eva Dyrberg of Denmark 6/3, 6/3. Cho, who is currently under number 64 in the WTA , plays for the second time in Australia's Grand Slam tournament. At her debut last year she was knocked out in the opening match. Magdalena Maleeva is seeded eleventh in the Grand Slam Australian Open Tennis Championship. Maleeva has played in nine Australian Opens so far. Her best single performance is the fourth round in `1991, 1993, 1994 and 2002. The best results in doubles are the third rounds in 1992 and 2001. Top seed Serena Williams survived a massive scare in the opening match of her 2003 Australian Open campaign before prevailing against Frenchwoman Emilie Loit 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Other seeds to record straight-set victories on Day Two included France's No.16 Nathalie Dechy, No.18 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, South African No.19 Amanda Coetzer, Russian No.20 Elena Bovina and No.26 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

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