Lleyton Hewitt made few errors in his 74-minute demolition of compatriot Todd Larkham in the Australian Open today. The top seed buried his ailing Davis Cup team-mate 6-1 6-0 6-1, reeling off 13 consecutive games on an unstoppable march into the third round.
"You do as good a job as you can and then you'll be mates afterwards and talk about Davis Cup ties or whatever," said Hewitt. "That's always been the case. You must play your `A' game. I've seen so many matches lost when you are cruising at one or two sets up. You just can't afford to do that in this game - there are too many good players."
One of the most intriguing ties of the third round is a repeat of last year's Wimbledon semi-final between Belgium's Xavier Malisse and David Nalbandian. The Argentinian 10th seed overcame Australian qualifier Jaymon Crabb in straight sets 6-1 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 and is confident of moving through to the second week.
Effervescent Andy Roddick responded to his tough first-round match with a consummate dismissal of Romania's Adrian Voinea 6-2 6-2 6-2.
While, four-time Australian Open champion Monica Seles gritted her teeth and played through the pain barrier in her second-round clash with Klara Koukalova but to no avail. The sixth seed sprained her ankle two games into the match and could not live with the Czech from then on.
Koukalova made the most of her opportunities, testing Seles around the court and eventually sealing the best win of her fledgling career 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-3 to earn a third-round meeting with American 25th seed Meghann Shaughnessy.
Filed by Johnny Proby
