Jankovic, Clijsters advance at Indian Wells

Indian Wells: Former champions Jelena Jankovic and Kim Clijsters cruised into the third round by posting straight-set victories at the WTA and ATP Masters 1000 event.

World No. 2 Clijsters, who won in 2005 and 2003, swept past Russian Alla Kudryavtseva with a dominating 6-2, 6-0 victory in the second round of the hardcourt tournament. Defending champion Jankovic also showed plenty of firepower, crushing Coco Vandeweghe of the United States in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. "I was happy to be playing out on centre court," Clijsters said. "For a first match, I`m at a stage now where I haven`t played for a while, and when I was playing, my last few tournaments were indoors. "So I kind of just have to get back into playing outdoors again and big arenas, and just get a feel for it all over again."There were three former women`s champions in action Friday, including Serbia`s Ana Ivanovic who defeated Japan`s Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-4, 6-2 in Friday`s evening session. Ivanovic won here three years ago. The women`s draw also includes world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark who lost in the final last year to Jankovic 6-2, 6-4. Second seed Clijsters needed just 52 minutes to beat Kudryavtseva and advance to play Sara Errani. Italy`s Errani defeated Jarmila Groth 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. Belgium`s Clijsters clinched her match when the Russian`s forehand return sailed wide left. Clijsters could surpass Wozniacki with a strong performance in Indian Wells. Clijsters was ranked 133rd in the world when she won in 2005. She hit three aces, won six of nine break-point chances and won 65 percent of the total points against Kudryavtseva. Clijsters won the second set in a blistering 21 minutes. Jankovic began her title defence in equally dominating fashion, hitting four aces and winning 80 percent (20 of 25) first-serve points. She is trying to become the first woman since Martina Navratilova in 1990-91 to win back-to-back Indian Wells titles."The last couple of weeks I have been starting to feel confident in my game," Jankovic said. "She made a lot of mistakes. I didn`t really know what to expect because I only played her once before at the US Open. But I knew she had a big serve." Jankovic moves on to the third round where she will play Julia Goerges of Germany who beat Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-3 on Friday. In other key women`s matches, reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy dominated Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2, 6-0 and 12th seeded Petra Kvitova lost 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. Wozniacki, two-time Indian Wells champ Daniela Hantuchova and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova of Russia play their first matches on Saturday. Bureau Report