World number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the Australian Open third round on Wednesday as Li Na and Kim Clijsters moved towards a 2011 final rematch and Victoria Azarenka thrashed Casey Dellacqua.
Wozniacki was pushed hard in the second set by Georgia's Anna Tatishvili before she sealed it on a tie-break to win 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) and set up a clash against Romanian Monica Niculescu.
In the last match of the day, third seed Azarenka shrugged off the crowd's mockery of her distinctive screaming to crush Australian wildcard Dellacqua 6-1, 6-0 with a ruthless display of power and control.
After Dellacqua won her first service game, the world number three seized control to win the next 12 games in a row, serving well and returning beautifully to keep the Australian under constant pressure.
Earlier, 2011 finalist Li cantered to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Australian wildcard Olivia Rogowska and defending champion Clijsters demolished France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-0, 6-1 in just 47 minutes.
Their wins left them on course for a highly anticipated fourth round meeting.
The shock of the day came on the Margaret Court Arena, where little-known Italian Romina Oprandi outshone 10th seed and compatriot Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3.
And the top-seeded Wozniacki was in trouble during the second set against Tatishvili, only to dig herself out of a big hole.
The Dane dropped serve in the fourth game and only just managed to hang on two games later to stop Tatishvili opening up a 5-1 lead.
The world number 83 had a chance to serve for the set at 5-3 but a poor service game let Wozniacki back into the match and she won the tie-break to seal victory.
Wozniacki admitted she never had it her own way against Tatishvili, a player she has known since they were both 11 years old, despite the 6-1 scoreline in the first set.
"We played doubles together in juniors here once and I think we made the semi-finals -- she knows my game and I know hers," Wozniacki said.
Since the draw was made a possible fourth-round showdown between Clijsters and Li has loomed, although the Belgian 11th seed insisted she had not looked that far ahead.
"In the media people always start to talk about the future, quarter-final, semi-final, a tough third, fourth round coming up before the tournament even starts," she said.
"I don't like to waste my energy on those kind of thoughts, because I can use all that focus on whatever match I have coming up next."
Clijsters was so dominant against Foretz Gacon that the Frenchwoman only won 24 points in the match, 13 of those coming from her opponent's unforced errors.
She next plays Daniela Hantuchova, a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko.
In the first match of the day fifth seed Li was broken in the first set but she proved too strong for Rogowska.
"I think today, the score looks like it was easy, but some games she was fighting a lot," Li said.
Li, who made the semi-finals in 2010 as well as last year's final, said she enjoyed coming back to the Australian Open's centre court.
"Coming back to Rod Laver Arena, I was feeling, yeah, I like this court a lot, I like to hit on this court," she said.
She now takes on Anabel Medina Garrigues in the third round after the Spanish 26th seed thumped Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-1, 6-0.
Elsewhere, eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska was untroubled by Argentinian qualifer Paula Ormaechea, winning 6-3, 6-1, while Czech Iveta Benesova upset China's 16th seed Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-4.
Former world number one Jelena Jankovic, the 13th seed from Serbia, saw off Taiwanese wildcard Chang Kai-chen 6-4, 6-2.
Source: AFP Global Edition
