Bogdan, Bouchard move on in Australian Open qualifying

MELBOURNE, Australia - In a packed day of qualifying, top seed Ana Bogdan continued her quest for the main draw with a straight-sets defeat of Australian wildcard Ivana Popovic.

The Romanian grabbed a 7-6(5), 6-4 win, sending down seven aces and winning 73 per cent of points on her first serve.

Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard of Canada defeated China's You Xiaodi 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in what transpired to be an epic, lasting almost three hours.

Though You served four aces to Bouchard's zero, and hit 42 winners to her opponent's 35, it was ultimately capitalizing on break point chances that made the difference - though Bouchard converted only seven of her 18, You won just six of her 23 break points.

Elsewhere, it was largely a good day for the seeds. Francesca Di Lorenzo beat Austria's Julia Grabher 6-3, 6-2; ninth seed Ysaline Bonaventure beat wild card Diane Parry 6-2, 7-5; Aliona Bolsova, the eighth seed, beat Pemra Ozgen 6-2, 6-3; Varvara Flink, seeded 16th, beat Oceane Dodin 7-6(3), 6-3; 24th seed Wang Xiyu beat Richel Hogenkamp 6-3, 6-2; and Stefanie Voegele, the 11th seed, also moved on.

Monica Niculescu was another seed notching a straight-sets win, beating Anhelina Kalinina 7-6(7), 6-2, taking four of her six break point chances.

Of the Australian contingent, there were victories for Destanee Aiava, beating Kamila Rakhimova 6-4, 6-2; and Maddison Inglis also notched a victory in the topsy-turviest of matches, beating Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(17).

Tuesday was the first day of qualifying action in Melbourne. There are two rounds of matches prior to the finals, from which 16 players will progress.