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Venus Williams hobbled while Caroline Wozniacki and Justine Henin
cantered on Wednesday but all three reached the third round of an Australian
Open where upsets continue to be thin on the ground.

Williams, returning to action here for the first time since last
year’s U.S. Open, was severely hampered by what appeared to be a groin problem
but still managed to scramble a 6-7 6-0 6-4 victory over world number 97 Sandra
Zahlavova.

The seven-times grand slam winner took a medical timeout after
losing the first set tiebreak and then gritted her teeth and summoned up her wealth
of experience to grind out a victory in a shade over three hours.

“It was really tough,” Williams, flying the family flag alone
this year in the absence of injured 2010 champion Serena. “But I’m a long way
from home. It’s such a long way home and I didn’t want to go back yet.

“You’ve got to be able play in all circumstances — good, bad
strange, weird, bizarre.

I haven’t retired from a match in a long time. I have to go to
the bitter end.” Top women’s seed Wozniacki earlier looked in fine fettle as
she took just 58 minutes to overpower American Vania King 6-1 6-0, continuing
an impressive start to her attempt to vindicate her number one ranking with a
first grand slam title.

Wozniacki’s win set up a third round opportunity to avenge her
loss last week in Sydney to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulova, who advanced with a
6-1 4-6 6-2 win over Italian Alberta Brianti.

“I definitely felt like I was playing good tennis today,”
20-year-old Wozniacki said, adding: “I believe that I’m a really good player, I
can beat anyone on a good day.” Henin was shaking hands with the umpire on Rod
Laver Arena moments after Wozniacki clinched her win, having put Briton Elena
Baltacha to the sword 6-1 6-3.

Seeded a lowly 11th, Henin was still feeling the elbow injury
that kept her out of the game for six months last year and said the
unseasonably low temperatures had not helped.

Unhelpful weather

“It’s the worst conditions actually,” said Henin, the 2004
champion at Melbourne Park. “The weather doesn’t help, that’s for sure. So I
wasn’t feeling at my best on this part today.

“But I have to deal with it and get ready, be focused on your
game, even if it’s not easy. But I did a good job about that.” Twice grand slam
winner Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, a 6-1 6-4 winner over Dutch qualifier
Arantxa Rus, stands in Henin’s path to the fourth round.

France’s 15th seed Marion Bartoli was beaten 3-6 6-3 6-0 by
Vesna Manasieva of Russia but 2009 champion Maria Sharapova survived an early
scare to rally to a 7-6 6-3 victory over Virginie Razzano in another
Franco-Russian encounter.

In the men’s draw, former world number five Tommy Robredo also
registered something of an upset with a 1-6 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory over American
16th seed Mardy Fish. Robredo’s fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco faced an
early exit but made a great escape by coming back from two sets down and saving
a match point in the fourth set on his way to a 2-6 4-6 6-4 7-6 6-0 win over
Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.

“I kept fighting all the time, because I was really close to
losing today,” said the ninth seed. “I think that just my mentality was one of
the biggest keys to my comeback today.” Thomas Berdych also had to fight back
after losing the first set to German Philipp Kohlschreiber but the sixth seeded
Czech found his range and ran out a comfortable 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 winner.