A day after police used pepper spray on an unruly section of the Australian Open crowd, calm and normal service was restored to Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Men's second seed Rafael Nadal and women's champion Serena Williams strolled through to the third round, preferring to concentrate on repelling their opponents rather than dwelling on the trouble.
They were joined by women's top seed Justine Henin, third seed Jelena Jankovic and former champion Amelie Mauresmo, who advanced rather less confidently.
As play got underway Victoria Police vigorously defended their use of pepper spray on Tuesday night, saying officers had feared for their own safety during the match between Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Greek Konstantinos Economidis.
"Our members are not punching bags. We are not there to be the sport of people who want to be unruly or want to cause trouble to the rest of the event. The use of the capsicum spray was in direct response to the threat that our members were under," Superintendent John Cooke told reporters.
Spaniard Nadal hammered his way past Frenchman Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 before reflecting sadly on the events of Tuesday.
"I think this is only a game and everybody has to know that, no?" the world number two mused before starting preparations for his next match against Gilles Simon of France.
STORMING SERENA
Serena snuffed out Chinese qualifier Yuan Meng 6-3, 6-1 with a forceful and fluid display.
"Everyone I'm playing is fighting to win as well as I am, so I'm really serious and focused on every match," the American smiled after setting up a clash with 26th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
Henin eased up a little towards the end of her 6-1, 7-5 victory over Russian Olga Poutchkova but was never in serious trouble.
"I was well into the match and played very aggressive and I did a good job in the first [set] ...then I lost a little bit of he intensity, a little bit of the rhythm on my serve," Henin told reporters.
Her victory lined up a third-round clash with Italy's Francesca Schiavone.
Mauresmo, champion here in 2006, reached the third round before admitting she lacked the confidence that took her to the top of the rankings.
The Frenchwoman seeded 18th after an injury-plagued end to last season led 5-1 in the second set but allowed Russian Yaroslava Shvedova back into the match before sealing a 6-4, 7-6 victory.
"I probably got a little bit tight in that moment and really wasn't able to finish that match off," Mauresmo told reporters. "I really think the lack of confidence showed a little bit."
Mauresmo's next opponent is Australian Casey Dellacqua who upset 15th seed Patty Schnyder.
Tennis mum Lindsay Davenport faces Maria Sharapova in the pick of the night matches later on Wednesday and will be followed on to court by men's sixth seed Andy Roddick who tackles Michael Berrer of Germany.
© 2024 Rediff.com -