MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) – Mercurial Marat Safin brushed off questions about possible retirement after he destroyed Ivan Navarro of Spain 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to march into the Australian Open's second round on Monday.

The 2005 champion and 26th seed completed the demolition in one hour and 45 minutes to set up a meeting with another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
The Russian was all class as he sent Navarro packing, putting his good form down to a new relaxed attitude on court.
“I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to plan anything,” he said.
“I want to play and be relaxed, no stress. Whatever comes, comes.
“It's great for me. Just try to be in shape, be able to run around the court. Like this it's much easier to play tennis.
“At least I want to enjoy it. I don't want to suffer anymore, I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to feel bad on the court anymore.”
Safin, who turns 29 late this month, said that as he got older tennis had lost some of its appeal.
“It's not easy because you're under continuous tennis pressure, which is traveling around the world, practicing every day, be in shape, try to be a little bit more responsible what you're doing outside the court,” he said.
“It's getting tougher and tougher with the age, especially with the injuries I've had throughout the years.
“It's not an easy game, let's put it this way, especially if half of the time you've been injured.”
He said the older a player was the more the pressure was felt.
“When you are young, 20 years old, 19 years old, you're coming, everything is new, it's exciting to come and play the big matches,” he said.
“With the years, you start to feel the pressure.
“A little bit you start to be unsure in certain moments of the match, hit it down the line or play a little bit cross-court.
“So you start to feel a little bit uncomfortable on the court, and this is what makes you have doubts.
“Eventually it comes to the errors. The young boys are not scared anymore. They will eventually be scared with the years, but it's tough to play against them in such conditions.”
But when asked about when he would eventually walk away, as he has previously indicated, Safin would not be drawn.
“No, I'm enjoying it, it's just a different way of enjoying myself,” he said.
“(But) you need to keep yourself fully committed to the tennis -- it's getting tougher and tougher.”-