Angelique Kerber edged into the third round of the Australian Open but was again in unconvincing form as she toiled in three sets.
The women's No 1 seed and defending champion defeated Carina Witthoeft 6-2 6-7 6-2 but another second set collapse - similar to her first-round slump against Lesia Tsurenko - will have been a concern.
Playing on her 29th birthday, Kerber eventually eased through in a match lasting two hours and eight minutes but conceded there were improvements to be made.
The German said: "I'm trying to play more aggressive but today I was doing a few more mistakes. I was not finding my rhythm from the first ball.
"It was not so easy. The conditions were a little bit difficult today and I was a bit too defensive. At the end I won and this is all that counts for me."
Unseeded Witthoeft had previously lost twice to her compatriot Kerber at Wimbledon, including an embarrassing 'double bagel' in 2015.
This time Kerber had a shaky start, taking Witthoeft's opening service game before losing her own on a fourth break point, but recovered well to take the first set 6-2.
She then opened a 2-0 lead in the second but squandered that and was taken to a tie-break, where she led 3-1 before losing six points in a row to allow her opponent to restore parity.
Kerber's dip continued into the third as she lost her first service game without taking a point, meaning she had lost 10 in succession.
Fortunately for her, however, Witthoeft then had a breakdown of her own on a day when she had 69 unforced errors as she was broken twice in a row to hand the initiative back to Kerber.
From there, the world No 1 finally pulled clear and broke for a third time in the decisive set to progress to a third-round tie with Kristyna Pliskova, twin of US Open finalist Karolina.
That is after the Czech player shocked Romanian 27th seed Irina-Camelia Begu with a 6-4 7-6 win in their meeting.
Venus Williams defied her status as the oldest woman playing at Melbourne Park to advance as well with a routine straight-sets victory against Stefanie Voegele.
She was rarely troubled by the Swiss player - only stumbling briefly as she lost a service game when already 3-0 up in the opening set - and closed out a comfortable 6-3 6-2 success.
Williams, now 36, made her Australian Open debut back in 1998 as a 17-year-old and said: "I have to talk about this every interview. It's an honour and privilege to start that young - and to play this old."
While the American shrugged off talk of her age, an elbow problem has caused her to withdraw from the women's doubles, in which she had been scheduled to play with her sister Serena.
Venus added: "I was hoping to have the capacity to play both events here but at this point I just need to be careful and try to maintain myself."
Elsewhere, eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made short work of home player Jaimee Fourlis as she beat the Australian 6-2 6-1.
Elina Svitolina, seeded 11th, also encountered few obstacles in her 6-4 6-1 victory over Julia Boserup.
The 10th seed is out, however, after Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro was beaten 7-6 6-3 by Romania's Sorana Cirstea.
Former Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, meanwhile, saw off Peng Shaui as her return to form gathered pace with a 7-6 6-2 win on Hisense Arena.
The Canadian, who is trying to come back after seeing her career and ranking nosedive in 2015, appears more optimistic now.
Bouchard said: "In the first set I didn't play that great, I was a little bit nervous. But overall I feel like I am getting better with every passing day. I'm honoured to be playing on such big courts."
Check our updates from Andy Murray, Jo Konta and Dan Evans' matches at the 2017 Australian Open by following our blog on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.
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