Clijsters, Hingis advance to third round

Wednesday, January 17th 2007, 6:27 am

By: News On 6

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Kim Clijsters extended the winning start to her farewell tour, beating Akiko Morigami 6-3, 6-0 Thursday to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

The 23-year-old Belgian, who announced she is retiring at the end of this season and plans to start a family, recovered from an inconsistent opening set to run easily through the second.

After winning her opening match without losing a game, Clijsters is content to brush off a couple of service breaks and an erratic first set against Morigami.

"I won in two pretty easy sets, so I'm not complaining," she said.

She started the year with a win over Maria Sharapova in the final of a Hong Kong exhibition tournament and last week won the Sydney International.

Recently engaged Martina Hingis, into the second year of her comeback after three seasons on the sidelines, had a 6-2, 6-2 win over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and joked that she was racing to get done before Clijsters.

Clijsters made more unforced errors (12) than winners (11) in the first set, but clicked into gear and had only three unforced errors in the last six games to finish in just under an hour -- nine minutes faster than Hingis.

She blamed the slow start on a late night, staying up to watch Frenchman Gael Monfils upset last year's finalist Marcos Baghdatis on Wednesday.

"I went to bed maybe a little too late," she said. "But I'm playing well, and it's nice to be back on this court again."

Sixth-seeded Hingis, who became engaged to Czech player Radek Stepanek last month, won three straight Australian titles from 1997 and then lost three consecutive finals before quitting the tour because of nagging foot and ankle problems.

After a small hiccup, broken when serving for the match at 5-1, Hingis broke Kudryavtseva's serve to ende the match.

Her comeback to the Australian Open in 2006 ended in a quarterfinal loss to Clijsters. A rematch looms again in the quarterfinals, and Hingis is expecting more of herself this time.

"Everybody expects me to get to the quarterfinals, whereas last year every match was a big win, big victory," the 26-year-old Swiss said. "I definitely expect that from myself, as well."

Light rain caused delays on outside courts, with matches held up by 90 minutes.

Marat Safin's chance for a third-round match against Andy Roddick was saved by rain on Wednesday night.

Safin, the 2005 Australian Open champion, was within two points of a shocking loss to 202nd-ranked Dudi Sela, down 5-6 in the fourth set and serving at 30-30.

A rain shower forced a suspension.

After a 17-minute break, Safin returned and fired an ace and a service winner, forcing a tiebreaker. He won that and then raced through the fifth set to win 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0 as the Israeli qualifier struggled with cramps.

"If the rain doesn't come, I was lost," said Safin, who exchanged 20 service breaks with Sela.

He next faces sixth-seeded Roddick, a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner over Marc Gicquel to advance.

Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and next faces U.S. Open semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny.

His anticipated fourth-round rematch with Baghdatis was wiped out by Monfils, the 2004 junior world champion.

Monfils lunged for shots and slid into splits as if he were on clay in a 7-6 (5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 win.

Defending women's champion Amelie Mauresmo won 6-2, 6-2 over Olga Poutchkova and Serena Williams held her concentration long enough for a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Anne Kremer.