Love is in the air at Melbourne

In 1996 Larkham soundly beat a 15-year-old Hewitt at a small event in a Melbourne suburb. Seven years on Hewitt showed the qualifier no mercy at all, allowing 28-year-old Larkham just 30 points in the entire match.

“I was not looking to rub it in exactly. But I think back then I only got a few games,” Hewitt smiled, recalling the 6-0, 6-4 loss. “It was always going to be quite a tough match one way or another and I think I handled it well mentally.”

The ruthless manner of his victory was matched only by that of Clijsters’s whitewashing of Hungary’s Mandula in the quickest contest of the week by far. It was a performance of grit and concentration which underlined the Belgian’s intent to make her Grand Slam breakthrough here. Mandula, a solid player who last year counted world number nine Jelena Dokic among her scalps, was simply overwhelmed by the intensity of the Belgian’s baseline aggression.

The one-sided thrashing also sent a clear message to World Number One Serena Williams, still a little off her best, as she looks to bag the only Grand Slam not in her possession. On Thursday, Williams put her nervy first-round three-set victory behind her to crush Els Callens of Belgium 6-4, 6-0.

But while Clijsters, one of the friendliest and most laid back players on the tour, was a picture of breezy confidence following her brief run-out, the American admitted to feeling the strain.

The World Number One is bidding to become only the fifth woman in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time after winning last year’s French Open, Wimbledon and US Open championships.

Fourth seed Clijsters, though, beat her in the final of the WTA Championships last year and looms as a major hurdle in the semi-finals providing neither slip up before then.

Marat Safin, last week’s shoulder injury a faint memory, bulldozed his way into the third round seeing off Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

But perennial Open under-performer Gustavo Kuerten, seeded 30, was beaten. The former world number one from Brazil went down 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to Czech Radek Stepanek and has now failed to progress beyond the second round at Melbourne Park in seven visits.

Kuerten was joined on the sidelines by a hobbling Monica Seles. The American was knocked out of the Open by Czech qualifier Klara Koukalova after twisting her ankle at the start of their second-round match.

The former world number one crashed to a 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 defeat despite bravely playing on with a heavily strapped left ankle. It was just the second time since Seles made her Grand Slam debut in 1989 that she failed to make it past the second round of one of the four majors.(Reuters)