Davenport, Myskina, Venus Move On at Australian Open

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport led the charge, fighting off a potentially difficult challenge in her first meeting with next-in-line teen Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-4.

"I was expecting a tough match in the third round, knew she had done well to get there," Davenport said. "From what I was told, she was a hard-hitter, had a pretty good hard serve. You know, that's what I was expecting and that's what she did. I mean, I think she hits some great shots. She made some errors that probably some inexperience played a role in that. But she's so young and obviously has a big game and has many, many years to improve on that."

No. 3 seed Anastasia Myskina benefited from a walkover against Lisa Raymond, who sustained an abdominal injury in a previous doubles match, and who will likely be out until March.

No. 8 seed Venus Williams continued to defy critics of her resurgent rise to the top ranks again, rolling No. 27 seed Anna Smashnova 6-3, 6-0.

"I wouldn't say it was just a slow start," Venus said. "But she just played a different-pace game, so I pressed a little too much and was hitting the balls a bit long. I needed to add some spin because, you know, she's the kind of player where you don't want to get caught up playing her game. That's when things can really get kind of strange."

Other seeded winners into the round of 16 were (6) Elena Dementieva (d. Hantuchova in three), (10) Alicia Molik (d. Panova), (12) Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Spears), (13) Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem (d. (18) Likhovtseva), and in the only upset on the day, and a mild one at that, (19) Nathalie Dechy defeating (14) Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3.

"I feel a little bit tired," said Dementieva, who was a slam runner-up twice in 2004, after edging Hantuchova in three. "It was a tough match. You know, three sets. I feel like I didn't play my good game. But I think it's pretty much impossible to play your best tennis during two weeks. So sometimes, you know, it can be, you know, bad day that you have to go through this. I think even that I was playing, you know, very bad today, was very defensive, you know, I still could do it. I'm just happy to be in the next round."

The result for the Aussie Molik matches her career-best result at a slam.

On tap for Sunday are (5) Kuznetsova vs. Douchevina in an all-Russian (Kuznetsova leads meetings 2-0, dropping a total of five games), (7) Serena vs. (11) Petrova (Serena leads 4-1 with the lone loss last year on clay at Amelia Island), (15) Farina Elia vs. (4) Sharapova (Italian won their only meeting last year on clay at Rome), Linetskaya vs. (2) Mauresmo (first meeting), in doubles Hantuchova/Navratilova vs. (14) Asagoe/Katarina "Robotnik" Srebotnik, and China's (10) Li/Sun vs. Russians (7) Myskina/Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva.