Australian Open Round-up: Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters and Patty Schnyder all secured straight-sets wins in the fourth round of the Australian Open in Melbourne today.
Both Mauresmo and Schnyder had little trouble dispatching their opponents on the way to quarter-final berths, while Clijsters had to overcome a tough challenge from Italian Francesca Schiavone.
Mauresmo barely worked up a sweat as she overcame a flimsy challenge from Nicole Vaidisova to triumph 6-1 6-1.
The Frenchwoman was in deadly form from the opening serve and easily saw off her 16-year-old opponent in less than an hour.
For Vaidisova it was more of a tennis lesson than a challenge as the tournament's third seed turned on a powerful performance to book a place in the quarter-finals.
The first set was quickly won by Mauresmo as she demolished her opponent and did not make any unforced errors. The second set then followed suit as service breaks came with ease to Mauresmo.
Another player to breeze through to the quarter-finals was Switzerland's Schnyder. The seventh seed needed little time to end the title aspirations of Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-2 6-1.
Schnyder also fired from the outset and before long had the first set. The second set followed shortly after and the Swiss was in sterling form as she raced away to a 5-0 lead.
Myskina then finally held her service game before her opponent bounced back to easily win the match.
Meanwhile, Belgian Clijsters struggled to get on top of Italian Schiavone in their duel.
The tournament's second seed looked troubled by injury as she hit an uncharacteristic 43 unforced errors to make victory tough for her.
However, Schiavone could not capitalise on numerous chances and in the end the experience of the US Open champion prevailed 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.