MELBOURNE, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- No. 2-seeded Amelie Mauresmo and third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova cruised through matches Wednesday and into the third round of the Australian Open.
Mauresmo, the defending champion at Australia, was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Olga Poutchkova and moved to a match with Eva Birnerova, who beat Julia Schruff 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 in the second round.
Kuznetsova needed about an hour to dispatch second-round opponent Monique Adamczak, 6-2, 6-1, and has lost just five games in her first two matches of the year's first Grand Slam event. She next goes against 26th-seeded Maria Kirilenko, who defeated Julia Vakulenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in her second-round match.
Fifth-seeded Nadia Petrova also had an easy time in the second round, beating Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-2, to advance to a pairing with Serena Williams, who eliminated Anne Kremer 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 Wednesday.
Three seeded players were knocked out. No. 14 Francesca Schiavone dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Lucie Safarova; No. 18 Marion Bartoli was beaten 6-0, 7-5 by Victoria Azarenka; and No. 23 Ai Sugiyama was upset by Anastasiya Yakimova 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.
Seventh-seeded Elena Dementieva and No. 21 Katarina Srebotnik were pushed to third sets Wednesday but the other seeded players who survived second-round matches Wednesday were straight-set winners. Those players were No. 10 Nicola Vaidisova, No. 11 Jelena Jankovic, No. 16 Shahar Peer and No. 20 Tatiana Golovin.
