MELBOURNE – Andy Murray’s first win at Rod Laver Arena lasted only 45 minutes. Lucky him.

With the temperature today topping 104 degrees in Melbourne, Serena Williams wanted her first-round match at the Australian Open to be over just as quickly. The second-seeded Williams, who has an alternate year pattern of titles here since 2003, had a 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Yuan Meng in 75 minutes.

“Ooh! It’s a little hot out here,” Williams said. “It was definitely extreme conditions.”

Murray only needed to play 12 games to advance – Andrei Pavel retired with a back problem down 6-2, 3-1 and 15-0. When they walked off, the temperature was hovering at 99.

Venus Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion and No. 6 seed, made it into the second round, beating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-3, 6-3. Willams, who could meet her sister in the semifinals, came from 3-1 down in the second set to win five straight games.

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile ended local favorite Lleyton Hewitt’s 13th Australian Open in the first round. Gonzalez, seeded 13th and runner-up here to Roger Federer in 2007, won a 3-hour, 7-minute match 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva beat Germany’s Kristina Barrois 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-1. Also advancing were No. 13 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo of France and No. 22 Zheng Jie.

No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland went down to Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-1. She was the highest of the seeded players to fall so far.

On the men’s side, No. 6 Gilles Simon beat Spain’s Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. Federer began his quest for a 14th major to equal Pete Sampras’ record with a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5 first-round win over 35th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy that finished after midnight.