Serena Williams advances to third round
Last Updated: Thursday, January 16, 2003 | 12:24 AM ET
CBC Sports
The world's No. 1 tennis player was back in form after nearly losing her opening game, beating Belgian Els Callens 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the Australian Open.
Williams is just five matches away from becoming the reigning champion in all four major tournaments.
Meanwhile, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil continued his struggles at the Australian Open, dropping a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 marathon to Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
Serena Williams, of the United States, plays a return to Els Callens, of Belgium, during their women's singles second-round match. (CP PHOTO)
Kuerten, seeded 30th, has never advanced past the second round at the Open.
He was the 13th player in the 32 seeded men to make an early exit at this year's major tennis tournament.
Third-seeded Marat Safin wasn't one of them. The 2000 U.S. Open champion and last year's Australian runner-up beat France's Albert Montanes 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the next round.
Williams suffered an injury on the eve of last year's Australian Open, but went on to beat her sister, Venus, in the finals of the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
A rash of errors and bad timing put Serena on the verge of defeat before she rallied to edge France's Emilie Loit on Tuesday, but she said she was inspired by Venus's victory over Ansley Cargill the previous night.
"She played a great match," Serena said of her sister. "I was motivated after watching her, thinking, `OK, she wants to be No. 1 again.' "
Serena vented her frustration in her match against Emilie Loit with an audible obscenity, for which she was fined $1,500 US on Thursday.
Callens gave Serena quite a challenge at Wimbledon last year, but that wasn't the case down in Melbourne, Australia as she struggled to contain Williams's power.
Serena hit 21 winners to Callens' eight.
"I have five more matches to go, it's going to be really tough," Williams said.
Her potential semifinal opponent, No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, advanced with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Hungary's Petra Mandula in 33 minutes.
On the men's side, Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian beat Australian qualifier Jaymon Crabb 6-1, 7-6 (10), 6-3, and No. 18 Younes El Aynaoui defeated Uzbek qualifier Vadim Kutsenko 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
No. 23 James Blake beat Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; No. 31 Rainer Schuettler ousted 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek 6-3, 7-5, 6-4; Spain's Feliciano Lopez defeated American Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; and Swedish qualifier Andreas Vinciguerra advanced when Austrian Julian Knowle retired with a torn right calf.
In other women's matches, No. 16 Nathalie Dechy beat Czech player Daja Bedanova 6-3, 6-3, No. 20 Elena Bovina defeated Italy's Rita Grande 6-1, 6-2, and No. 25 Meghann Shaughnessy beat Slovakia's Ludmila Cervanova 6-1, 6-1.
Andre Agassi lost his first seven points against South Korean Lee Hyung-taik, but was perfect for the rest of his match, walking away with a 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 victory.
Fifth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain dropped a 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 decision to No. 83 Mardy Fish.
