Venus struggles, Clijsters breezes

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus Williams struggled in her second match at the Australian Open before beating Russia's Vera Douchevina on Thursday, while second-ranked Kim Clijsters joined her in the third round following an impressive 6-0, 6-0 rout of Maria Elena Camerin.

In just her second match since being sidelined for almost six months with an abdominal injury, Williams had 23 unforced errors against the 112th-ranked Douchevina before eventually pulling out a 6- 4, 6-2 win.

Williams, whose has won four Grand Slam titles, was faster and looked sharper in her opening-round match against Ashley Harkleroad. Still, it took her just 56 minutes to beat Douchevina.

"She's still Venus," Clijsters said, "she's still quick and probably she's the best mover out there."

On the men's side, French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero overcame an arm injury and advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 7- 6 (3), 7-5 win Thursday over Italian Filippo Volandri. Ferrero advances to face Sweden's Joachim Johansson, a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-5 winner over Alberto Martin of Spain.

Clijsters didn't have any problems in her win over Camerin until the last game, when the Italian saved four match points before sending a backhand long. Clijsters hit 25 winners and went to the net 14 times in a 50-minute stroll against Camerin, ranked No. 92.

"That was pretty perfect," said Clijsters, who has registered 6- 0, 6-0 sweeps four times in Grand Slams. "It doesn't happen this often when you can win this well. It makes it feel good."

Clijsters said he had no trouble with the ankle problem that sidelined her for two weeks before the season's first major.

Clijsters spent more time waiting for a ballboy to remove a moth from the court than she did rallying with Camerin in the fourth game of their second set, pouncing onto a backhand return after a brief spell and sending a winner down the line. She held at love in the next.

Camerin waved her arms across in front of her as if to slow down a runaway train. It worked for a while. She had game point on serve twice in the last, but couldn't hold.

Clijsters, engaged to Australia's former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and usually a favorite with the crowd, had at least one spectator against her.

"I could here this guy yell out, 'Come on, give her a game.' I thought, 'What do you want me to do, hit it in the net?"'

The third-seeded Ferrero hurt his left arm when he lunged for a backhand volley in the opening game of the third set. It didn't seem to slow him down.

Ferrero was broken in that game, but converted on two break points in the following game to even the set 3-all. He clinched the victory when he broke Volandri in the 12th game, ending the match in 2 hours, 18 minutes.

Eighth-seeded David Nalbandian, a former Wimbledon finalist, had a 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 win over German Florian Mayer, and Rafel Nadal of Spain defeated Thierry Ascione of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Australian Todd Reid, who was vomiting at courtside before serving for the match in the fourth set, beat Armenia's Sargis Sargsian 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-4.

On the women's side, eighth-seeded Ai Sugiyama, 18th-seeded Francesca Schiavone, and 27th-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa all lost.

Four Russian women advanced. Sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-2, 6-4, 23rd-seeded Lina Krasnoroutskaya beat Barbora Strycova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, Elena Likhovtseva upset Schiavone 6- 2, 6-2 and Dinara Safina upset Coetzer 7-5, 6-3.

Italian Silvia Farina Elia came back to defeat Spain's Virginia Ruano Pasual of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Sugiyama lost to Japanese compatriot Saori Obata 6-4, 6-4.

Russian-born French teen Tatiana Golovin upset 14th-seeded Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 6-2, 6-3, by consistently ripping forehands past her opponent on the way to 25 winners.

Golovin, who will turn 16 on Sunday, was ranked No. 354 and had only one win on the WTA Tour before the tournament. Smashnova- Pistolesi, 27, has eight WTA titles.

"I don't know if it's hit me yet, that I beat a top-20 player. I'm sure it'll sink in when I get home," said Golovin, a wild-card entry who is also in the junior tournament. "I haven't even looked at the draw, I don't know who I'm playing," next.

Her third-round opponent is Russian Krasnoroutskaya, who finished last season ranked No. 27.

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