Sharapova, Seeds Bake Bagels Thursday at Aussie Open

Posted on January 18, 2007

The sun wasn't the only thing baking Down Under Thursday at the Australian Open where the seeded players baked a handful of "bagel" sets en route to the third round.

Feeding opponents bagels in quick-time were No. 1 seed Maria Sharapova rolling past Anastassia Rodionova 6-0, 6-3, No. 4 Kim Clijsters stomping Akiko Morigami, 6-3, 6-0, and China's No. 19 seed Na Li dispatching of Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-0, 6-2.

"It was good -- I was glad I got off to a good start," Sharapova said. "I wanted to make sure I finished it in two this time. I thought I played a little better today, but I still think I can play a lot better. I'm nowhere near my top level. I think I can definitely get better as I play more matches here."

The two seeded upsets on the day were orchestrated by American comeback queen and newly-divorced Ashley Harkleroad who had little problem with No. 17 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 6-2, and Croatian Jelena Kostanic Tosic who outlasted Aussie No. 24 seed Sam Stosur 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Other seeded winners into the third round were (6) Martina Hingis (d. Kudryavtseva), (8) Patty Schnyder (d. Peng), (9) Dinara Safina (d. Fedossova), (12) Anna Chakvetadze (d. Granville 6-1 in the third), (13) Ana Ivanovic (d. Radwanska in three), (15) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Loit from a set down), (22) Vera Zvonareva (d. Paszek), (29) Alona Bondarenko (d. Razzano), and (30) Tathiana Garbin (d. Voracova).

Clijsters says she and Hingis are in an unofficial race this year at the Australian Open to see who can get off the court first, with a potential quarterfinal meeting looming.

"It happened on our first matches," Clijsters said. "We won at around the same time, and then came into the locker room and started laughing, and she's like, 'Damn, you beat me, you were there first.' Then today as well, we were waiting at the office and she's like, 'I hope I'm going to get here before you get here. We're friends off court, and you can laugh and say those kinds of things. And, once you get on the court, if we get to play each other, it's all business. But from the moment that it's done, then those things should be possible, I think."

The hopes of one nation fell Thursday as India's Sania Mirza made an unceremonious 6-3, 6-2 exit against Aiko Nakamura, while another took heart as unseeded Alicia Molik continued her lone-remaining-Aussie campaign with a comeback 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Kaia Kanepi.

"I let her run away with that first set," Molik said. "I knew things could really only get better. I didn't feel too bad after the first set. I knew what I needed to get going -- my serve, get my forehand working. Then she didn't see any holes, she pressed, and eventually committed a lot more errors in the end than myself...The crowd definitely helped today. They were putting in hard work out there. I think there's no doubt that that helps you along when you're down a little bit."

Seeded players and other matches of interest Friday in Melbourne are (5) Petrova vs. Serena Williams, (3) Kuznetsova vs. (26) Kirilenko in an all-Russian, (2) Mauresmo vs. Birnerova, (7) Dementieva vs. Camerin, (11) Jankovic vs. Azarenka, (10) Vaidisova vs. (21) Srebotnik, and (16) Peer vs. (20) Golovin.