The world no.3 began her 2013 campaign in sublime form as she completely annihilated Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round of the tournament on Sunday and will look to continue her fairytale against the Frenchwoman. The younger Williams – the superwoman who won Wimbledon, the US Open,  the Olympics, Stanford and the WTA Championships after her shock defeat in the first round of Roland Garrros is undoubtedly the player to beat on the WTA tour coming into the summer down under.

The 15 times Grand Slam champion has come into the tournament in red hot form as she had ruthlessly dismantled all her opponents in straight sets in her last tournament of the previous year - the season ending finale in Istanbul featuring only the top 10 players in the rankings. Against Cornet the third seed will try to smack the ball close to the lines, come in a bit and finish of the points in real quick time giving her rival practically no chance to react. Both players have met twice before, but haven't slugged out on court since Cornet lost a close three set encounter at the Beijing Olympics more than four years ago. However, with a cleansweep in her mind, Williams will be hard to stop and is expected to trounce her adversary with relative ease.   

Meanwhile, the five time Melbourne Park winner has fired a warning to the top ladies of the game as she has announced that she wants to secure the calender Slam in 2013 and the first target towards that goal will be a sixth Aussie Open crown by the end of January. Williams said: "I definitely think I can (I can win the Grand Slam). I think maybe whoever wins the Australian Open will have that same thought. I love winning and I feel like as long as I'm able to win matches I'm motivated to keep going."

TennisEarth predicts a straightforward win for Serena.