• Australian Open, Day Three

Clijsters finds devastating form as Wozniacki prevails

Kim Clijsters appeared unstoppable © Getty Images

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Defending champion Kim Clijsters put on an utterly dominant display to breeze into the Australian Open third round.

Clijsters came ever so close to dishing out her fifth double-bagel at the event, defeating France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0 6-1 in Melbourne. The 11th seed rattled off 16 winners in the victory, losing a meagre 24 points all match.

The 28-year-old started with a bang, as she raced to a 4-0 lead in under quarter of an hour. Indeed, seven minutes later the first set was hers as Clijsters fired a warning to the remainder of the field.

It was more of the same in the second set, though Foretz Gacon did manage to avoid the ignominy of being Clijsters' next double-bagel victim, winning a game to the cheers of the spectators. Clijsters showed no signs of the hip problem that forced her to retire in Brisbane a fornight ago, wrapping up the match in 47 minutes.

Clijsters will now take on Daniela Hantuchova who needed three sets to get past Lesia Tsurenko. The Slovakian recovered from a sluggish start to claim a 4-6 6-4 6-3 win.

Anything Clijsters can do, Victoria Azarenka can do too, and the third seed underlined her title credentials with an emphatic 6-1 6-0 win over home favourite Casey Dellacqua. Next up for the Belarusian is Anne Keothavong's conqueror Mona Barthel, who continued her impressive run of form, claiming her tenth consecutive victory as she upset No. 32 seed Petra Cetkovska.

Caroline Wozniacki prevailed in straight sets to reach round three © PA Photos

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World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki was tested by Anna Tatishvili in their match, but the Dane ultimately progressed 6-1 7-6(4). Wozniacki appeared set for a straightforward win, but had to withstand a second-set fightback from Tatishvili who broke the top-seed's serve.

Wozniacki pounced as Tatishvili nervously stepped up to serve for the second set at 5-3. In the ensuing tiebreaker, 83rd-ranked Tatishvili was unable to regain her composure as she sent two forehands well wide to see Wozniacki through to the third round.

Li Na made best use of her early start on Rod Laver Arena, defeating Australia's Olivia Rogowska 6-2 6-2. Last year's runner-up spent just 62 minutes on court as she dominated from the opening serve, hitting a miserly 14 unforced errors for the match.

Francesca Schiavone suffered a shock exit as she was bundled out by compatriot Romina Oprandi 6-4 6-3. There were no such troubles for 13th seed Jelena Jankovic, who secured a 6-4 6-2 win over Kai-Chen Chang.

Eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska faced little resistance in the shape of Argentina's Paula Ormaechea, while No. 22 seed Julia Goerges profited from the retirement of Greek opponent Eleni Danilidou.

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