Melbourne, Australia, Jan 17 : Anyone who didn't know Novak Djokovic won three of the four Grand Slam titles last year only had to look at his shoes.
That's if his emphatic first-round win at the Australian Open wasn't evidence enough when he started his Australian Open defense Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy wearing a pair of red-white-and-blue shoes with images of his three major trophies on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels.
He gave up an early break but immediately broke back at love as he won the next 17 games, saving a breakpoint in the opening game of the second set.
"It was a great performance for (my) first official match of the 2012 season," said the top-ranked Djokovic, whose only loss at a Grand Slam tournament last year was in the French Open semifinals.
The 24-year-old Serb has won two Australian titles -- including his first major in 2008 -- and his game is well suited to the pace of the hard court.
But he struggled at times with the heat at Melbourne Park before his breakthrough season last year and didn't always look comfortable against Lorenzi as the temperature hit 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) in the first set.
It didn't stop him from entertaining his fans, though. He played a shot between his legs, with his back to the net, to set up a breakpoint chance in the fourth game of the third set which brought the crowd to its feet.
On the women's side, second-ranked Petra Kvitova and No. 4 Maria Sharapova advanced with lopsided wins.
After surrendering her opening service game with a double-fault, Wimbledon champion Kvitova won 12 consecutive games in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Vera Dushevina.
Wearing the purple color synonymous with Wimbledon, she underlined her growing stature on the women's tour by breaking her Russian rival's serve three times in each set.
Kvitova reached the quarterfinals here last year at the start of a season in which she surged up the rankings.
Last week, she missed a chance to overhaul Caroline Wozniacki's No. 1 ranking when she lost in the Sydney International semifinals. She needed to win the Sydney tournament to take the top ranking.
But she gets another chance at Melbourne Park, where she's one of six women who can finish No. 1.
Sharapova, a former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, won the first eight games of a 6-0, 6-1 win over Gisela Dulko of Argentina in her first match since returning from a left ankle injury.
The 2008 champion needed just 58 minutes for the win and the only game she lost was on her own serve. She then saved three breakpoints in the last game before serving out the match.
"I've been here for 14 days getting used to the conditions," Sharapova said. "Back in the heat now, but it was like winter before. Different preparation, but sometimes it's just the way it goes."
Other women advancing included No. 27 Maria Kirilenko, who beat Australian hope Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4, 6-2, Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak, Shahar Peer of Israel and 2000 Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic.
Men's No. 5 seed David Ferrer advanced in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 over Rui Machado of Portugal. No. 24 Kei Nishikori of Japan and No. 32 Alex Bogomolov Jr., now representing Russia, also advanced.
Serena Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam winner, will play a night match on Tuesday against Tamira Paszek. She didn't get to defend her title last year because of injury and comes into the season's first major with concern over her left ankle, which she twisted at a tuneup tournament in Brisbane earlier this month.
