Washington, DC
16 January 2008
All of the highly seeded players in action have advanced to the third round of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
Top seed Justine Henin of Belgium led the way on the women's side Wednesday, playing an especially strong first set in a 6-1, 7-5 win over Olga Poutchkova of Russia.
No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia faced a second set challenge before downing Romanian Edina Gallovits, 6-2, 7-5. Fifth seeded Russian Maria Sharapova ended the comeback of new mom Lindsay Davenport of United States, 6-1, 6-3, but her fellow American, No. 7 Serena Williams, defeated Yuan Meng of China, 6-3, 6-1.
In the men's draw, second seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal breezed to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 win over Frenchman Florent Serra. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the third round by beating France's Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.
The highest seeded American had little trouble, as Andy Roddick upended Germany's Michael Berrer, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, while No. 8 Frenchman Richard Gasquet topped Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.
The biggest upset of the day came on the men's side as American Mardy Fish surprised 11th seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. On the women's side the highest ranked player to fall.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.