Kim Clijsters was making no promises after fighting through the pain barrier to reach the second round of the Australian Open.

An acute hip muscle strain had Clijsters' participation at the season-opening grand slam in doubt right up until she walked on court.

And the world No.2 refused to make any bold predictions about her title chances after recovering from 1-3 down in the first set to demolish Korea's Yoon Jeong Cho 6-3 6-0 on day two of the championships at Melbourne Park.

Clijsters required inflammatory pills - which the US Open champion said she struggled to digest - and then limited her warm-up to less than 10 minutes before confirming her appointment with Cho.

Even then, the second seed struggled.

"It was actually worse at the end. I got through, so that's the most important thing. That's what I'm most happy about," Clijsters said.

"I knew that before I started I wasn't going to be able to play like I usually can, move freely.

"But that's (what) I had my mind set on. I knew that. I was just trying to get the best out of myself with the way that I physically can, and that's all I'm going to try to do."

Clijsters said she had no choice but to not run for some shots.

"I can't. It hurts a lot," the Belgian said, adding that the pain was at its worst when she attempted explosive movements, like pushing up to serve or thrusting forward on service returns.

"There's moments where it hurts. There's moments where it doesn't. So I just have to protect it. If I don't have to, I'm not going to risk too much.

"Hopefully it can get better. Hopefully I stay positive and things won't be too bad tomorrow because it wasn't physically too tough today."

Clijsters' victory set up a second-round meeting with Japan's Shinobu Asagoe and completed an utterly dominant day for the women's seeds.

Leading French fancies Mary Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo earlier opened their title bids in contrasting fashion.

While Pierce needed just 52 minutes to blow away Australian wildcard Nicole Pratt 6-1 6-1, Mauresmo took far longer to find her rhythm before eventually prevailing 2-6 6-2 6-2 against China's Tiantian Sun.

Mauresmo, seeded third, was well below the scintillating form that earned the 26-year-old the season-ending championship in LA two months ago.

"It's just the way I started this tournament. It's not always easy to play the first match," Mauresmo said after booking a date on Thursday with compatriot Emilie Loit.

"It's just a good thing to be over and done with. You have the opportunity for the next round to really do better and make sure you avoid a few things that you didn't do really well."

Pierce hammered 27 clean winners to continue her resurgence as a major force and book a second-round meeting with Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

The 31-year-old reached the French and US Open finals last year, but is aiming to go one step further at Melbourne Park.

"It's a good feeling. It's a good start - my first match in a couple months competitively," said the 1995 Australian Open champion.

"It's always good to just kind of get going, get used to the environment, get used to competing again. I was very, very happy with my play today."

Clijsters, Mauresmo and Pierce were among 14 seeds to safely advance.

Among the others were seventh seed Patty Schnyder, No.15 Francesca Schiavone, No.16 Nicole Vaidisova, No.19 Dinara Safina, No.21 Ana Ivanovic and No.32 Sania Mirza.

Australian Samantha Stosur also moved on, beating Severine Bremond of France 6-3 6-4.

The 21-year-old Queenslander next faces Ivanovic, the Serbian teenager with Melbourne connections who outclassed American Shennay Perry 6-4 6-4 in her opening match.

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