Dazzling Ivanovic pushes title bid

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Ana Ivanovic turned in a dazzling display in her first night match at a grand slam on Thursday when she demolished Tathiana Garbin in the second round of the Australian Open.

Serbian third seed Ivanovic outclassed the Italian 6-0 6-3 before a crowd of more than 18,000 in Melbourne.

The opening set lasted little more than 20 minutes as 20-year-old Ivanovic ran her more experienced opponent ragged in reeling off the opening 10 games of the match.

Garbin forced Ivanovic to up a gear in the second set but the Serbian, who equals her best result at the year's opening major by advancing to the third round, had all the answers.

The Italian did keep her sense of humor in adversity, though, raising her arms in triumph when she finally got on the board by breaking Ivanovic in the second set's fifth game.

Ivanovic had a couple of late jitters, requiring six match points to shake off the world number 40 before clinching the win with an ace much to the delight of the large Serbian contingent in the crowd.

"Definitely I'm very happy," said Ivanovic, who also has family in the city. "I was a little bit nervous going onto the (court) -- first-time night session grand slam.

"It was also a little bit windy in the beginning. But I tried to focus, moving my feet, getting around the ball and just committing to my shots. So I was really happy the way I started and also the way I handled the match. I'm pleased with my performance."

Next up for Ivanovic is Slovenian 28th seed Katarina Srebotnik, who beat newly-adopted Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-4 6-1.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams insisted her bid for a first Australian Open title remained on track despite a shaky second-round win against lowly Frenchwoman Camille Pin.

Williams, a six-time grand slam champion who lost her only Melbourne Park final to sister Serena in 2003, had her serve broken six times by the 77th-ranked Pin but still prevailed 7-5 6-4.

Williams, who will next take on India's talented 31st seed Sania Mirza, said: "To be honest at this point I feel like I know how to play tennis. And whether or not I have my best match or a match that's not so good for me is not something that worries me for the next round.

"So either way it's just important for me to get to the next round because I feel like I can always play better."

Another leading contender for the title, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, also had a tougher second-round battle than expected against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, whom she eventually beat 7-6 (7/0) 6-2.

Slovakia's ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova advanced to the third round with a 6-2 7-5 win over France's Alize Cornet while Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Spanish veteran Virginia Ruano Pascual also reached the last 32.

Slovenia's number 28 seed Katarina Srebotnik, Germany's Sabine Lisicki and Russia's 14th seed Nadia Petrova are also through.

And two more Russians in Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Kirilenko set up an exciting third-round meeting following easy second-round wins.

The two 20-year-olds both won in straight sets with sixth seed Chakvetadze beating fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 6-4 while 27th seed Kirilenko thrashed Japanese veteran Akiko Morigami 6-1 6-1.

Chinese player Li Na also moved into the last 32 by downing Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-4 6-3. E-mail to a friend