TOKYO, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Open champion and top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia continued his hot streak on Wednesday by advancing to the third round of the $870,000 Japan Open hardcourt tennis event with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Marc-Kevin Goellner of Germany.
On the women's side, top seed Monica Seles of the United States reached the third round with an easy 6-2, 6-3 win over Korean qualifier Yoon-Jeong Cho. Seles has reached four finals this season, winning in Oklahoma City and last month in Brazil.
Hewitt has won four tournaments this season, also claiming titles at the adidas International, Stella Artois Championships, and the Heineken Trophy. He followed up his triumph in New York by helping Australia reach the Davis Cup final for the third straight year, winning his two singles encounters.
Second seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands began defense of his title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Christian Vinck of Germany and third-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany defeated Sweden's Magnus Larsson, 6-3, 7-5. Schuettler has reached the final in his last two events, claiming the title in Shanghai.
Also, fourth seed Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden dispatched Japanese wild card Hiroki Kondo, 6-1, 6-3, No. 5 Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland overcame Ota Fukarek of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 6-4, and sixth seed Michael Chang of the United States, who leads active players with 12 Asian tournament wins, cruised past Axel Pretzsch of Germany, 6-3, 6-4.
Playing with his left ankle heavily taped after undergoing surgery in June, seventh seed Marcelo Rios of Chile rolled past Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 6-2, 7-5. Rios won his second title of the year Sunday in Hong Kong.
Also advancing to the third round was eighth seed Francisco Clavet of Spain, who subdued Tomas Behrend of Germany, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2. Other seeded men to advance were No. 9 Lars Burgsmuller of Germany, 11th seed Nicolas Massu of Chile, and No. 15 Michael Russell of the United States.
Among the women, third seed and 1998 champion Ai Sugiyama of Japan got past Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, sixth-seeded Rita Grande of Italy beat Barbara Schwartz of Austria, 6-4, 6-4, and Bulgarian qualifier Pavlina Nola upended No. 7 Natalie Dechy of France, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
In first-round action, fifth seed Marlene Weingarter of Germany topped Australian Evie Dominikovic, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, No. 8 Joannette Kruger of South Africa opened with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Janet Lee of Taipei, 7-5, 7-5, and Australia's Nicole Pratt eased by Rika Fujiwara of Japan, 6-2, 6-4.
