Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka got on and off the court in just over an hour as the eighth seed reached the second round of the Australian Open 6-4, 4-1 when Andrey Golubev retired injured on a sweltering on Monday.

The Kazakh had his calf taped shortly before giving up in the opening-day contest, with summer temperatures headed into the 40s Celsius — and even hotter as the week goes on.

While admitting that it is always tough to play an injured opponent, the world number eight Wawrinka admitted that beating the heat was useful.

“It’s better to finish quickly the first match, but the most important is to win. The heat has never been a problem for me.

“It’s the same for every player, you need to be ready. You need to feel strong physically for playing with that heat.” Warwinka, who advanced to the second round with four aces and four breaks of serve in the abbreviated contest, added, “You never want the opponent to retire for injury, but that’s what happened today. I was feeling good, it was one of my best starts in a Grand Slam if I look about my game and how I felt on the court.

“I was moving well, playing strong, playing okay. For sure made some mistakes, but for the first one it’s never easy. I’m really happy with the way I started.” Russian Mikhail Youzhny, seeded 14th, got the job done over German Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. American Sam Querrey got off with a win against Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) and Ivan Dodig dispatched fellow Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Women's match

In women’s play, 2013 finalist and fourth seed Li Na started with a rout of Croatian Ana Conjuh with the loss of just two first-set games. German ninth seed Angelique Kerber, losing finalist at the weekend in Sydney, handed Australia and opening loss at the grand slam, beating Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.

British women’s hopes ended on day one as both off-form Laura Robson and qualifier Heather Watson both were beaten.

Belgian Kirsten Flipkens defeated Laura Robson 6-3, 6-0 while Robson went down to Daniela Hantuchova7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams lost as Russian Ekaterina Makarova completed a matches set of Williams sister upsets at the tournament with her 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win against the injured veteran who was playing the event for only the second time in four years.

Makarova also beat world number one Serena Williams in the fourth round two years ago.

Marakova recovered from 0-3 down in the third set after losing the first before starting a comeback effort, helped by three double-faults on the trot by the 33-year-old Williams in the second set.

Swiss 16-year-old Belinda Bencic began showing her long—term potential as a star-to-be by defeating 43-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Casey Dellacqua earned an Australian win over Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-2.