MELBOURNE, Jan 15 - After playing the waiting game for almost three hours, Svetlana Kuznetsova sprinted past Australian wildcard Jessica Moore 6-2 6-0 on Monday to book her place in the second round of the Australian Open.

The third seed led a sextet of Russian women through. She was joined by fifth seed Nadia Petrova, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina.

Olga Poutchkova earned the unenviable task of taking on defending champion Amelie Mauresmo following a 6-2 6-4 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.

Kuznetsova had to hang around in the locker room as Mardy Fish battered men's fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic into submission on Vodafone Arena.

Once she stepped on court she overpowered the 16-year-old Australian, ranked 914th in the world, and carved out victory in 59 minutes under fading lights.