2011 finalists Clijsters, Li Into 3rd Round; Federer, Nadal Advance At Australian Open

Defending champion Kim Clijsters cruising into the third round of the Australian Open, and then she showed just how much support she has at the Rod Laver Arena by getting the entire crowd to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her younger sister.

Clijsters only needed only 47 minutes to beat Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France 6-0, 6-1 on Wednesday, showing no signs of a hip problem that had forced her to retire during a semifinal two weeks ago against Daniela Hantuchova at a warmup tournament.

She will meet Hantuchova here in the next round, and has a potential rematch of the final of the 2011 Australian Open with French Open champion Li Na in the fourth round.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took differing paths against German rivals to the next stage. Nadal beat Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the last afternoon match at Rod Laver Arena. Nadal, the second-seed had to have his right knee heavily taped again after hurting it while he was sitting in a hotel chair over the weekend, but it didn’t seem to restrict him.

Federer has won four of his 16 Grand Slam titles in Australia, got a walkover into the third round when Andreas Beck withdrew from their scheduled match at Hisense Arena due to a lower back injury.

Eighth-ranked Mardy Fish, on the men’s side, became the first top 10 player to lose, falling 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (6) to Colombia’s Alejandro Falla.

No. 7 Tomas Berdych advanced 6-1, 6-0, 7-6 (4) over Belgium’s Olivier Rochus, 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, No. 18 ranked Feliciano Lopez and No. 30 Kevin Anderson all advanced.

On the women’s side, 10th-seeded Francesca Schiavone was eliminated by her fellow Italian Romina Oprandi 6-4, 6-3, also No. 16 Peng Shuai lost 6-2, 6-4 to Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic. Former No. 1-ranked Jelena Jankovic beat Taiwan’s Chang Kai-chen 6-4, 6-2.

Clijsters and No. 20 Hantuchova, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 a winner over Lesia Tsurenko, have been playing against each other for years.

Li is also returning to her form, going further than she has a Grand Slam tournament since her breakthrough win at the French Open. No. 26 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain she will play next, who beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1, 6-0.

Li said she loves being back on Rod Laver Arena, is where she burst onto the global tennis scene last year, while Clijsters clearly still feels at home on a court where she is still known as “Aussie Kim” long after her relationship ended with Lleyton Hewitt.

Serena Williams advances to the second round in a match that finished well after midnight, her ankle was holding up well to its first test since she sprained it in Brisbane two weeks ago. The only thing that really bugged her, despite the 11:32 p.m. start on Tuesday night, were the insects in a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tamira Paszek. Serena said she hates bugs more than you can imagine, because they kept jumping on her.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. Andy Murray, the runner-up of the last two years, defeated American teenager Ryan Harrison and 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga eliminated Denis Istomin.

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