Sharapova sails to Australia's third round

MELBOURNE, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Maria Sharapova dropped just three games Thursday in cruising into the third round of the Australian Open.

The early part of the second round played mostly to form, with former No. 1-rated players Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis each moving up in straight sets and upsets relegated to lower-seeded players.

Those who were ousted Thursday were 17th-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who lost to Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-2, and 24th-seeded Samantha Stosur, who was beaten by Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Sharapova won her first set Thursday at 6-0 and breezed through second at 6-3 in dispatching Anastassia Rodionova. Her next opponent is 30th seeded Tathiana Garbin.

Clijsters, the No. 4 seed, was on the court just 59 minutes in posting a 6-3, 6-0 win over Akiko Morigami, which pairs her against 29th-seeded Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko in the third round.

Hingis was only slightly more tested, winning 6-2, 6-2 over Alla Kudryavtseva and next meets Aiko Nakamura.

Also Thursday, No. 8 Patty Schnyder handled Shuai Peng 7-5, 6-3; No. 9 Dinara Safina stopped Youlia Fedossova 6-3, 6-2; 12-seeded Anna Chakvetadze got past Laura Granville 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic held off Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 3-6, 6-2; 15th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova overcame Emilie Loit 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; and 19th-seeded Chinese Na Li leveled Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-0, 6-2.

Also advancing were No. 22 Vera Zvonareva and Alicia Molik.