A red-hot Kim Clijsters pulverised Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the Australian Open third round. The Belgian was joined in the winners’ circle by husband-to-be former world No1 Lleyton Hewitt, who overcame a slow start to comfortably beat Slovakia’s Karol Kucera 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.Women’s third-seed Venus Williams, however, wasted little time as she pounded Russian Vera Douchevina 6-4, 6-2. The American is playing her first tournament since she was struck down by an abdominal injury after losing last July’s Wimbledon final to younger sister Serena.Wimbledon champion Roger Federer safely negotiated US qualifier Jeff Morrison 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, before outlining his lofty ambitions. “I know I can win this tournament,” the second seed said. “Before, you know, I would have been happy with the quarters or the semis.”French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero survived two injury scares to battle past Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4, 7-6, 7-5. Dinara Safina led a raft of Russian women into the third round earlier on Thursday. The younger sister of former world No 1 Marat Safin, Safina upset South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer 7-5, 6-3 to post her best Melbourne Park result.Elena Likhovtseva emulated Safina by eliminating another seed in Francesca Schiavone, thumping the 18th-seeded Italian 6-2, 6-2. Anastasia Myskina continued to cut through the draw with a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Maria Sharapova completed the Russian quintet in the following round.Saori Obata scored the biggest win of her largely uneventful career when she upset eighth seed Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Japanese battle.Mark Philippoussis needed his full arsenal of firepower to beat Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in a match between two players with contrasting styles. (Reuters)
