Angelique Kerber has navigated her way past a battling Lesia Tsurenko 6-2 5-7 6-2 to book her place in round two of the Australian Open.

The defending champion was pegged back by her opponent in a mammoth second set, before eventually shaking off the Ukrainian to set up a meeting with Carina Witthoft.

Kerber eased into a first-set lead, earning two breaks of serve to take the opener, but the world number one took her foot off the gas and it nearly proved costly in the second set when losing four games on the spin.

Tsurenko survived one match point and then twice broke her opponent to take a second set that lasted exactly an hour in Melbourne, but Kerber was able to show why she is the best female player on the planet by recovering from her mid-match wobble and getting over the line