MELBOURNE, Australia (AP): Roger Federer started his Australian Open title defence with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lukas Lacko on Monday, showing some of the sublime shot-making skills that make him the most obvious hurdle to Rafael Nadal's pursuit of a "Rafa Slam."

Trying to become only the second man to win five Australian titles, Federer was in such a rush to get through to the second round that he barely waited for the ballboys to get back into place between points.

Since Federer won at Melbourne Park last year for his record 16th major title, Nadal has won the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and is aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles. If the rankings hold true, Federer and Nadal will meet in the final.

The second-ranked Federer is clearly intent on regaining the top spot. "One and two are both very good. One is better than two, but they still put me on Rod Laver Arena, so I'm not complaining at all," Federer said. "And, look, I'm really enjoying myself playing really well at the moment. Very happy how things are going."

Federer worked his Slovak rival around the court with angled forehands and relentless accuracy. The 23-year-old Lacko had no answers, except when he challenged some line calls.

Lacko twice challenged calls on the baseline in one game on Federer forehands that looked like winners - he had both turned over to earn a break against Federer's serve in the second set and make it 3-1. It only seemed to spur Federer on as he raced through the first round in 84 minutes.

No. 8 Andy Roddick rushed through as well, firing 17 aces as he beat Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Caroline Wozniacki started her first major as the No. 1-ranked woman with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina's Gisela Dulko.

It was 20-year-old Wozniacki's first victory of the year, following a straight-sets loss to Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova last week in the Sydney International and exhibition losses to No. 2 Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Dulko, the top-ranked doubles player, tested Wozniacki in the second set and pulled level at 4-4 with a service break, but the Danish player broke back immediately and served it out on her second match point after a double-fault on her first.

Wozniacki won six tournaments in 2010, including four of her last six, and can retain the top spot by reaching the semi-finals. "Definitely. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling like I'm in a good shape," Wozniacki said. "Gisela is a tough opponent, especially in the first round."

Maria Sharapova won for the first time at Melbourne Park since taking the 2008 title, beating Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 6-3 in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena.

Sharapova, who missed the 2009 tournament because of a shoulder injury and was ousted in the first round last year by fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, struggled with her serve and was inconsistent in the second set. After losing the opening service game at love, Sharapova won seven straight games to take a 6-1, 1-0 lead.

The 33-year-old Tamarine rallied and had a game point on serve for a 4-1 lead, but 14th-seeded Sharapova broke back and regained momentum, winning the last five games.

Even when she was winning, though, Sharapova had trouble finding range with her serve. She had 10 double-faults and five aces.

"I was definitely a little bit nervous in the beginning. Last year, I played first match on center and, you know, I lost," Sharapova said. "So kind of was like, 'I don't want this to happen again this year.'

"The first game definitely wasn't great, and didn't serve good at all during the match. I started playing better as the match went on and, yeah, I can only improve."

French Open champion Francesca Schiavone had a couple of stutters, missing a chance to serve for the match before breaking Arantxa Parra Santonja to win 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.

In other women's matches, No. 20 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia beat Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and No. 29 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia advanced 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 over Germany's Angelique Kerber.

No. 18 Sam Querrey was the first of the men's seeded players eliminated, losing 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6 to Poland's Lukasz Kubot, while No. 12 Gael Monfils and No. 16 Mardy Fish rallied from two sets down.

Former world junior champion Thiemo De Bakker served for the match at 5-3 in the third against Monfils but got tight and made a series of unforced errors on key points, eventually losing 6-7 (5), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.

"I know Thiemo a bit. I know sometime he snap in the head," Monfils said. "It's a weakness for him. So you play with that."

Fish seriously cut down his unforced errors in the third set and continued that through, getting the decisive break in the seventh game of the fifth set and then converting his fourth match point for a 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu.

Maybank M'sian Open golf championship in April will have a field of top players, including Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel

HONOLULU: Mark Wilson made it through a marathon Sunday at the Sony Open without a bogey and held on for a two-shot victory to earn his first trip to the Masters.

Wilson shot a 5-under 65 in the morning to take a one-shot lead into the afternoon round. He built a four-shot lead at the turn, then had to hang on when Tim Clark and Steve Marino made late runs on different sides of Waialae.

Clark, who started the final round five shots behind, birdied three of his last four holes. He narrowly missed an eagle putt on the ninth hole and settled for a 64. Then came Marino with two late birdies and one incredible shot that at least gave him hope.

Two shots behind on the par-5 18th, with his feet in the bunker and his ball about chest-high on the side of a hill, Marino blasted a fairway metal from 234 yards away that landed on the front of the green and rolled 40 feet away. His eagle putt narrowly missed, giving him a 68.

Wilson made one last birdie he didn't need, giving him a 67 for his third career victory.

"It was nice to go right to the tee and not have to think about it," Wilson said of having only a few minutes before the third and fourth rounds. "I'm thankful it's over now."

Wilson, who finished at 16-under 264, played his final 40 holes without a bogey. That proved significant at a couple of points in the final round. He got into trouble on the eighth hole and was 150 yards out in the fairway playing his third shot, sure to lose some of his two-shot lead. But he stuffed it to 7 feet for par, then birdied the ninth to expand his lead to four.

Even bigger was his par on the 17th, even though Wilson didn't realise it.

Clark had already finished at 14-under 266. Marino was starting to charge with back-to-back birdies to get to 14 under, while playing in the same group with Wilson.

Wilson hit into a bunker and blasted out some 12 feet past the hole. But his par putt caught enough of the lip to fall, and he clutched his fist. Only later did Wilson reveal that he didn't look at a leaderboard, not wanting to think about anything but making birdies.

He asked his caddie as they walked toward the 18th green where they stood, and the caddied told him, "Just get it up-and-down." Wilson obeyed, pitching to 4 feet. The putt became easier when Marino missed his eagle.

The victory, worth US$990,000, was important to Wilson for a couple of reasons. He is in the last year of his exemption from winning in Mexico in 2009, and he is coming off a poor season in which he had only two top 10s. And then there's the Masters.

Augusta National did not invite winners of most PGA Tour events until 2007, a month after Wilson won the Honda Classic. His win in Mexico didn't count because it was an opposite-field tournament, the same week as the Match Play Championship.

Jimmy Walker closed with a 68 to finish alone in fourth, while Matt Kuchar and Matt Bettencourt were another shot back. Stuart Appleby and Shigeki Maruyama, who started Sunday tied for the 36-hole lead, never got going.

Maruyama had rounds of 70-69 to tie for seventh, his first top 10 on the PGA Tour in two years. Appleby didn't make a birdie until the final hole of the last round and shot 72.

From top to bottom, 56 players were separated by only seven shots going into the final 36 holes, a recipe for anyone winning from anywhere. But on a quiet day near the shores of Waikiki, there was little movement.

Wilson chipped in from behind the third green for birdie and kept bogeys off his card a 65, the best score of the third round. It gave him a one-shot lead over Marino, who had a 66, but certainly not much room for error.

Kuchar pulled within one shot early in the fourth round, then dropped out with two straight bogeys. Marino stayed in the picture until a bogey on the eighth, failing to birdie the easy par-5 ninth, and hitting two poor wedges for a bogey on the short 10th.

The big move came from Clark, and he was on the other side of the course.

Because of the 36-hole final - forced by a washout in the first round Thursday - players did not change groups for the afternoon. Clark started the day six shots out of the lead, shot 66 in the morning and made his move on the front nine - his last nine holes. His birdie on No. 6 took him to 12 under, then he nearly made an ace on the par-3 seventh for a tap-in birdie and gave him two good looks at the end.

A 10-foot birdie putt on No. 8 caught the left lip, and his 15-foot eagle on the ninth never had a chance.

"I kind of figured if you could get it going around here, I might still have a chance, even though we were on different nines," Clark said. "This back nine, I kind of got it going there with some iron shots. A few putts would have helped, but very pleased."

With the runner-up finish, Clark should move to No. 20 in the world. With Charl Schwartzel winning the Joburg Open earlier Sunday, that means South Africans will occupy the first five spots in the Presidents Cup standings. - AP