Sixth-seed Li Na survived second-set scare en route to the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday.

The 2011 French Open winner beat Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round for the consecutive year, including losing to Kim Clijsters in 2011's final.

Li started strongly and breezed through the first set in 32 minutes, dropping just two games and hitting a number of impressive forehand winners.

Govortsova showed some fight to break early in the second and built a 4-2 lead to force the Chinese number one into action.

The 30-year-old won five of the next six games to break her opponent's stubborn resistance and earn a place in the last 32.

Li faced two set points at 3-5 in the ninth game of the second set, but came back to level the set at 5-5 before breaking Govorsova's serve to clinch the match.

"Actually I think I did well in the first set." said Li. "Maybe I became overconfident and gave the opponent too many chances. And I didn't play as hard as in the first set."

Li will face the winner between Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic and 27th seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania on Friday.