Melbourne: Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic produced another stuttering performance at the Australian Open on Wednesday, but still managed to beat a dogged Alberta Brianti 6-3 6-2 in the second round.

Ivanovic, who also failed to dazzle in her victory over Julia Goerges on Monday, produced a similar effort on Rod Laver Arena to set up a third-round match with either Russia's Alisa Kleybanova or France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.

The 21-year-old Serb, beaten finalist at Melbourne Park last year, established an early lead and while Brianti dragged out the eighth game with eight deuces to hold serve, Ivanovic sealed the set on the next game.

Brianti was forced to take a medical time out for treatment on a back injury after Ivanovic jumped out to a 3-0 second set lead and the break had the initial impact of helping her take the next two games.

However, Ivanovic wrestled back control of the contest to complete victory in 92 minutes.