Williams, Henin through

Wiliams: Broken twice

Also see

• Tennis Results
• WTA Schedule
• Tennis on Sky
• Messageboards

Defending champion Serena Williams eased into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Yuan Meg of China.

The American did not have things all her own way though, twice dropping serve in the opening set against the 21-year-old who negotiated three qualifying rounds to make it into the main draw.

But the seventh seed ultimately proved too strong for the player ranked 121st in the world, who struggled to cope with the American's strong serve and booming winners.

The eight-time Grand Slam winner was always in control, leading 2-0 and 4-1 before she was broken again after Meng battled back from 0-40 in the sixth game.

But the American steadied herself by breaking Yuan to love to move ahead 5-3 before serving out to claim the opening set in 35 minutes.

Williams, who hit a total of 35 winners to the Chinese player's nine, recorded another break at the start of the second to remain in control and although Yuan held in the third game, she couldn't stay in touch.

Cruising

World number one and pre-tournament favourite Justine Henin overcame a second set blip to move past Olga Poutchkova of Russia 6-1 7-5.

The Belgian, looking to match Williams' record of eight Slams at Melbourne Park, appeared to be cruising into the third round at 5-2 in the second set before letting her opponent back into the match.

Poutchkova held serve either side of a break to level the set but Henin raised her game when it mattered, breaking the Russian to book a date with 25th seed Francesca Schiavone.

"I lot a little bit of rhythm on my serve and she came back and I didn't move her," she said. "And when she came back to 5-5 I understood it was time to push myself a little bit more.

"I know in the next round it's going to be a good match for me to push myself and really come to another level."

Consistent

Meanwhile, Australia's Casey Dellacqua delighted the partisan crowd by defeating 14-seed Patty Schnyder in a thrilling 4-6 7-5 8-6 victory.

The 22-year-old had lost in the first round in the last five years but after raising her ranking from 172 to 78th last, was able to raise her game against the consistent Swiss.

Schnyder has reached the fourth round every year since 2002 and blamed the new Plexicushion surface on her sub-par effort this time around.

"It's a different court now - it's very slow, the ball doesn't bounce as high and gets heavier. It's very tough for me," she said.

"I tried my best but it made it much harder for me."

Dellacqua's reward is a third round clash with former champion Amelie Mauresmo, who needed 10 match points against the plucky Yaroslava Shvedova before coming through 6-4 7-6.