Clijsters races into Australian Open third round

Kim Clijsters remained in destructive form as she barged past Carla Suarez Navarro to reach Rd 3.

Melbourne: Australian Open favourite Kim Clijsters remained in destructive form as she barged past Spain`s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 to reach the third round.

It was the second straightforward win for the third seed after her 6-0, 6-0 demolition of Dinara Safina in the first round. Suarez Navarro reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park in 2009, defeating Venus Williams along the way, but she had no answer to the 27-year-old Belgian in the first set.US Open champion Clijsters on Thursday broke the Spaniard twice in the first set and conceded just four points on her own serve as she wrapped up the opener in only 22 minutes. She then broke Suarez Navarro twice more to open up a 3-0 lead before the Spaniard regained composure and began to trouble Clijsters. She broke Clijsters to get on the scoreboard at 1-3, but the Belgian was never seriously threatened and comfortably held on for the win in 62 minutes."She`s a tough player, I`ve practiced with her before and she`s very tricky," Clijsters said. "The balls bounce differently than in the first round (against Safina), so you have to move your feet a lot more.” "I was happy with the way I played, I tried to be more aggressive and dictate the points, and it worked." Bureau Report