Clijsters, Nadal move smoothly to 3rd round

MELBOURNE, Australia – US Open champion Kim Clijsters took another step toward winning consecutive Grand Slams with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Belgian will next play No. 19 Nadia Petrova, one of the Russian women already into the third round along with French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, last year’s Australian Open runner-up Dinara Safina and Maria Kirilenko.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal converted five of his first six breakpoint chances in an emphatic 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 second-round win over Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko, extending his run to nine straight wins at Melbourne Park.

“I played a serious match. I think I played the match what I need to play,” said Nadal, the six-time Grand Slam winner. “I was playing, moving well in the beginning without mistakes, having with the control of the ball.

“No, I think I played right way. Very good match, yeah.”

No. 7 Andy Roddick had a heated exchange with the chair umpire over a line call after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, while No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the 2007 runner-up, beat Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

American John Isner had a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-5 second-round win over Louk Sorenson, who on Tuesday became the first Irishman to win a Grand Slam main draw match.

Clijsters won the US Open in September in only her third tournament back from two years off the tour in which she got married and had a baby.

Despite her success at Flushing Meadows, Clijsters said she still had plenty to prove, to herself and the other players on the circuit.   (AP)