French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko has showcased her Australian Open credentials with a quickfire first-round win over Italian Francesca Schiavone at Melbourne Park.
Playing her first grand slam match under Australian coach David Taylor, the Latvian seventh seed downed the 2010 Roland Garros champion 6-1 6-4 in one hour and 14 minutes on Monday.
Ostapenko is the first big name through to the second round, as seven grand slam champions take to the court on day one of the championships.
The 20-year-old next plays either China's Ying-Ying Duan or Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino on Wednesday.
"This is really special. It's my first match on Rod Laver Arena and I really enjoyed this," said Ostapenko, relieved at surviving some second-set wobbles against her 37-year-old opponent.
"She's a great player. she's very experienced. It was a very tough match. I was missing a bit and I'm really glad I got through this."
Ostapenko only linked up with Taylor last month after the former long-time coach of Australia's 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur ending an 18-month stint with Japanese prodigy Naomi Osaka.
"He's a great coach, very experienced and he can help me a lot," Ostapenko said.
Ostapenko could potentially run into Stosur in the fourth round.
First, though, Stosur must negotiate her first hurdle later on Monday against Rio Olympics gold medallist Monica Puig.
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