The American Williams sisters stole the show at the Australian Open on Monday, setting up a second-round family affair in the process.

After Serena, 16, upset the odds by beating Romanian Irinia Spirlea, 17-year-old Venus knocked out Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 6-3 6-0.

Serena's win was not quite so simple. She came back to defeat Spirlea 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1.

The teenagers will now meet head-to-head in round two.

As she walked off court, the defeated Romanian sixth seed was clearly annoyed.

Asked who she thought would win the second-round clash of the Williams, tipped to be the highlight of the tournament, Spirlea replied: "I don't care."

She added: "I don't know what happened. If you don't feel sure, anyone can come back against you.

"I was expecting her to be strong. I was sure she would play similar to Venus. But you never know what to expect."

Spirlea, 27, was fined $5,000 after deliberately barging Venus at the US Open last year.

Serena next plays her older sister

Serena began the game poorly, double-faulting to lose the first set and continuing to serve badly in the second.

But Spirlea made the same mistake and her younger opponent quickly capitalised.

Serena said: "There was an open door and I went through it. The open door was not hitting to her forehand."

The match on Monday lasted 62 minutes on Melbourne Park's centre court before record crowds.

Serena played down her confrontation with her big sister.

"Venus has no reason to fear me. I've never feared anybody," she said.

"I just see it as another match. I would like to win every time but you can't win every match."

At her own press conference Venus said: "Young Serena will want to beat me, so I better be ready."

She added that her sister was "the only person I would be happy losing to."

Venus, ranked 21st in the world, lost to Martina Hingis in last year's US Open final.

Serena is now ranked 56th in the world. She moved up 40 places when she beat the number three seed Lindsay Davenport at the Sydney International.

Other results on the first day of the Australian Open were less sensational.

Defending champion and world number one, Pete Sampras may have been upstaged by the Williams duo, but he wasn't outclassed in his own game.

Pete Sampras upstaged

He encountered little resistance against Sjeng Schalken taking the match 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

The champion should also beat Italy's Davide Sanguinetti in the second round.

Sampras was satisfied with his day's work. " I had a good serving day. I just wanted to get through the match as best I could, it was a good solid day."

The opening match on centre court created more of a stir.

Despite strong crowd support, 16-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt could not follow up his success in Adelaide earlier this month, when he beat Andre Agassi en route to becoming the third youngest male player to win a tournament in the Open era.

Hewitt fought back from two sets down, but lost 6-2, 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 6-3 to Czech player Daniel Vacek.

There was other drama in the men's matches. 14th seed Felix Mantilla of Spain was knocked out by Byron Black of Zimbabwe 6-4, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

Fellow Spaniard, 10th seed Sergi Bruguera, withdrew from his first round match against Karol Kucera, of Slovakia, because of badly blistered feet.

Results in full

Men's singles:

• Hicham Arazi (Morocco) beat Hendrik Dreekmann (Germany) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-2

• Byron Black (Zimbabwe) beat Felix Mantilla (Spain) 6-4 6-0 4-6 6-4

• Francisco Clavet (Spain) beat Lars Burgsmuller (Germany) 2-6 6-3 6-4

• Alex Corretja (Spain) beat Lucas Arnold (Argentina) 6-4 7-5 2-6 6-3

• Sebastien Lareau (Canada) beat Magnus Norman (Sweden) 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (7-9) 7-5

• Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Peter Tramacchi (Australia) 6-4 6-3 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-3)

• Daniel Nestor (Canada) beat Gilbert Schaller (Austria) 6-3 6-0 7-6 (8-6)

• Marc Rosset (Switzerland) beat Brian Macphie (U.S.) 6-4 0-6 6-4 3-6 6-4

• Daniel Vacek (Czech Republic) beat Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-2 6-4 1-6 2-6 6-3

• Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Allen Belobrajdic (Australia) 2-6 6-1 6-1 6-1

• Jordi Burillo (Spain) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 6-3 6-4 1-6 3-6 9-7

• David Prinosil (Germany) beat Johan Van Herck (Belgium) 3-6 6-7 (7-2) 6-1 6-4 6-1

• Gianluca Pozzi (Italy) beat Arnaud Clement (France) 6-4 4-6 5-7 6-2 6-4

• Cedric Pioline (France) beat Fernando Meligeni (Brazil) 6-4 1-6 6-5 (ret)

• Petr Korda (Czech Republic) beat Albert Portas (Spain) 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-4

• Scott Draper (Australia) beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-4 7-5 7-5

• Slava Dosedel (Czech Republic) beat Arnaud Boetsch (France) 6-4 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

• Alex O'Brien (U.S.) beat Jan-Michael Gambill (U.S.) 3-6 7-5 6-1 6-3

• Magnus Gustafsson (Sweden) beat Dennis van Scheppingen (Netherlands) 6-4 6-3 6-0

• Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-0 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-3

• Wayne Ferreira (South Africa) beat Jan Kroslak (Slovakia) 6-4 3-6 6-2 6-3

• Mikael Tillstrom (Sweden) beat Leander Paes (India) 6-3 6-2 6-2

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