Chinese duo off to Melbourne flier

The hardcourts of  hold many happy memories for Chinese tennis.

Yan Zi and Zheng Jie became the first Asian duo to clinch the women's doubles title there in 2006, while Sun Tiantian partnered with Serbian Nenad Zimonjic to win the mixed doubles title in 2008.

China's most significant success, of course, came in 2014 when Li Na was crowned women's champion in her third Australian Open final.

It wasn't all good news for the Chinese contingent on Monday, however.

Peng Shuai, the 25th seed, struggled with a knee injury in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to 15-year-old Ukrainian qualifier Marta Kostyuk.

Afterwards, the 32-year-old Peng vowed to start from scratch again as she bids to prolong her career until 2020.

Sixteen-year-old wildcard Wang Xinyu, meanwhile, showed plenty of promise in her senior competition debut but lost 6-4, 6-2 to France's Alize Cornet.