Family arguments are usually best solved in private, but the tennis public will have to get used to the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, fighting it out time and again in front of them.

Unfortunately their first professional encounter in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne yesterday was not especially memorable for its tennis, and the big crowd appeared a little embarrassed.

The hype had been huge; the reality was that both these teenagers are some way short of the finished product, and two helpings at the same time was simply too much. They finished with a joint, synchronised bead-rattling bow, but the applause was notably muted.

The current fascination is how they fare against more experienced and illustrious opponents, not against each other. Yet with the brashness of youth, and a burning inner determination, they believe they will soon be playing one another in Grand Slam finals.

"Afterwards I said: `Let's just make sure we meet in finals now.' We will be number one and number two seeds interchangeably because Serene is definitely strong and consistent," said Venus.

No doubt Switzerland's Martina Hingis, the world number one, will have a word or two to say about such an all-American, all family presumption. So too will Russia's Anna Kournikova and Mirjana Lucic of Croatia - two more immensely gifted teenagers.

Women's tennis may be about to enter a golden era of intense competition, although there will probably be casualties on the way.

Venus, the winner yesterday in straight sets, 7-6, 6-1, lost the US Open final to Hingis last year and currently has the edge on experience over her sister, if nothing else.

For 16-year-old Serena this was only her fourth senior tournament, yet she has already claimed some notable victories over current top 10 players, while last week Venus finally defeated Hingis at the fourth time of asking.

There might be some difficulty telling them apart, and there were times yesterday when the sisters, coached by their father Richard, seemed to be playing against a mirror image, yet already there are signs that Serena, certainly more muscular and powerful, may be the more gifted.

Without doubt she is more emotional than her elder sister, little screams and shrieks trilling from her mouth at times of stress or elation. She is learning how to vary her shots and on at least two occasions, having suckered Venus into mid-court, passed her with awesome venom.

However, Venus possesses intense concentration and it was this factor, perhaps more than anything, which saw her prevail yesterday. The actual tennis was extremely patchy, with a messy sequence of six successive service breaks in the opening set which Venus eventually won on the tie break.

Australia's John Newcombe believes that the 15-year-old Lucic has the power to take the women's game "into a new dimension", as did Monica Seles when she first arrived on the scene.

Yesterday Lucic was beaten by fellow Croatian Iva Majoli, the reigning French Open champion and number four seed here, but she seems certain to become a growing force, with force being the operative word.

However, the joy of Hingis's success, with three Grand Slam titles last year, has been the quality and intelligence of her groundstrokes, and the ability to use the power of her opponents against them with her exquisite timing.

Kournikova, who reached last year's Wimbledon semi-finals before losing to Hingis, is another thinking player who is able to vary her game significantly, and the future struggle between power and finesse should be fascinating.

The Williams sisters were kept away from the traditional international junior circuit, and have entered the professional world in possession of a faith in their own ability to be totally dominant which borders on religious certainty.

There is something of the Muhammad Ali in both of them; certainly their father calls a great fight. But it remains to be seen whether they are really as good as he, and they, think they are.

On the men's side of the draw two more seeds fell yesterday, with Carlos Moya, the number seven seed and last year's beaten finalist, losing to Australia's Richard Fromberg.

Fromberg was not really expected to win whereas his fellow countryman Mark Philippoussis certainly was. But the 21-year-old Philippoussis, who two years ago beat Pete Sampras here in the third round, lost in five-sets to Morocco's gifted but erratic Hicham Arazi. On this occasion power was certainly not enough.

World number one Sampras tuned up yesterday for a third Australian Open title, beating a hapless second-round opponent in a canter and revealing that no one had troubled his game in years.

Sampras, defending champion and two-times Open winner, breezed into the third round and ending 94th-ranked Italian Davide Sanguinetti's agony in little more than an hour before a full centre court crowd.

Early this morning, title-holder Martina Hingis struggled before beating Germany's Barbara Rittner in straight sets in their second round meeting.

Hingis surged into a 5-0 lead in the first set, but then lost five games in a row before recovering to take the next two and the set 7-5.

Hingis then raced through the second set 6-1 to set up a potential third round meeting with Russia's Anna Kournikova in a repeat of last year's Wimbledon semi-final.