Tennis:Victoria Azarenka threw down the gauntlet to her Australian Open rivals with a brutal demolition of Casey Dellacqua today. After winning the warm-up tournament in Sydney, the third seed is widely fancied to land her her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne this year.
She certainly looked in good nick under the lights of the Rod Laver Arena, winning 6-1 6-0 against home hope Dellacqua in just 57 minutes. She also lost just one game in her first-round encounter.
The Aussie had no answer to Azarenka's superior power and was unable to force a single break point in the one-sided contest.
Azarenka's win booked her a date with Hobart champion Mona Barthel, who ousted 32nd seed Petra Cetkovska, in round three and completed a day of comfortable progress for the big names.
Last year's finalists Kim Clijstersand Li Naboth raced into the third round. The pair dropped just five games between them in their second-round matches in Melbourne.
Li, beaten in the final 12 months ago, was first up on Rod Laver Arena and she brushed aside the challenge of home hope Olivia Rogowska, winning 6-2 6-2.
Defending champion Clijstersfollowed her on to court and was even more convincing as she thrashed France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon, conqueror of Briton Elena Baltacha in round one, 6-0 6-1 in just 47 minutes.
Li, the fifth seed and last year's French Open champion, dropped serve early but responded with three breaks of her own to cruise through the first set.
And there was never any chance of a comeback as she broke the Australian wild card's serve twice more to advance in just 62 minutes.
Clijsters also broke five times as she again proved the hip injury which forced her out of the Brisbane International is on the mend.
"I felt like I was hitting the ball well, seeing the ball well. I'm happy with the win," she said.
Things should now get tougher for Clijsters - she will next meet 20th seed Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Lesia Tsurenko 4-6 6-4 6-3.
Li faces Anabel Medina Garrigues, a 6-1 6-0 victor over Olga Govortsova, in the last 32.
Top seed Caroline Wozniackiwas given more of a test. The Dane, still seeking her maiden Grand Slam title despite her world number one status, eased through the first set against Georgia's Anna Tatishvilibut found things tougher in the second.
She eventually emerged a 6-1 7-6 (7/4) winner on the Hisense Arena.
Wozniacki served nine aces during her victory and will now play 31st seed Monica Niculescu, the Romanian having seen off Pauline Parmentierin three sets.
Jelena Jankovic, a former world number one, joined Wozniacki in round three when she proved too good for Kai-Chen Chang, of Chinese Taipei, winning 6-4 6-2.
Wozniacki and Jankovic will meet in the last 16 if they win their third-round matches.
Things did not go so well for Francesca Schiavone.The former French Open champion, seeded 10 here this year, lost 6-4 6-3 to her Italian compatriot Romina Oprandi.
Nine double faults and 35 unforced errors - more than twice the number of her opponent - contributed to the 31-year-old's downfall.
"I think was really bad match for me," was Schiavone's blunt assessment afterwards. "I couldn't play like I was supposed to."
Another seed, Shuai Peng (16), also bowed out, going down 6-2 6-4 to Czech Iveta Benesova.