First there were Rafa Nadal's short shorts; now Serena Williams is getting in on the act, upping the fashion stakes and ripping her way into the second round of the Australian Open at the same time.

Dressed in a revealing bright yellow and neon pink dress, with pink headband and pink straps, Williams took her place in the second round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Alison van Outvanck of Belgium.

The dress drew numerous compliments from her fellow players, including Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, the runner-up at Wimbledon last summer.

If she wanted to make a statement, then the dress did it and Williams said she enjoyed wearing it, even if she was wary of not being able to get in it.

"I feel like I don't want to eat too much," she said. "One peanut and I'm going to break the dress, so I try not to eat that much.

"Sometimes I'm a little nervous (about them) but this one I think is really good. It's really trendy and young, but at the same time it also has a great message and it's also really nice. It goes really well."

Chasing a sixth Melbourne Park title, Williams raced through the first set and eased through the second but said she had been uncharacteristically nervous beforehand.

"Today I told Patrick [Mouratoglou, her coach], 'I'm a little nervous'," she said. "He was like: It's OK. Just make sure you keep your feet moving. I'm more open about [being nervous] now."

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova avoided a repeat of last year's first-round loss as she beat Holland's Richel Hogenkamp 6-1, 6-4 while Caroline Wozniacki will meet former champion Victoria Azarenka in round two after both recorded straight-set wins.

If the seedings go to plan in the men's event then we could see a repeat of last year's quarter-final between top seed Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, the Swiss who won his first grand slam title here last year.

Djokovic, looking smart in blue and white, took care of business with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over Alija Bedene, the Slovakian who is trying to become a British citizen.

Wawrinka crushed Marcel Ilhan of Turkey 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to join Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori and veteran Lleyton Hewitt in round two.

Djokovic was particularly pleased to get through, having gone into the tournament fresh from a virus he picked up in Asia before coming to Australia.

"[The problems] are fading away," he said. "It hasn't been an ideal couple of weeks in terms of health and preparation.

"But I fought my way through. Now it's behind me. I'm only looking forward. I think I did well in terms of responding to the slow start today, feeling a little bit rusty on the court. So hopefully the next one will be even better."

And Djokovic said he felt the court surfaces were faster than in previous years.

I usually like some kind of medium speed, not too fast, not too slow. I'm getting used to this court as much as the other players. I need to accept it the way it is.