MELBOURNE - JUSTINE Henin's sizzling form continued in Wednesday when she clocked her 30th straight win to make the Australian Open third round, with Rafael Nadal equally impressive in his match.

Henin, the world number one and top seed, demolished Russian Olga Poutchkova 6-1 in the opening set, but was given a wake up call when stretched to 7-5 in the second.

The second seeded Nadal put on a dominant display against hapless Frenchman Florent Serra, racing to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 victory in just 1hr 34mins.

Williams, the seventh seed, swatted aside China's Yuan Meng 6-3, 6-1, sending an ominous warning to rivals who covet her crown, while Jankovic beat Romania's Edina Gallovits 6-2, 7-5.

The diminutive Henin, who missed last year's Australian Open amid personal problems, admitted she lost some focus in the second set, but never felt threatened.

"Well, I played a good first set. I was well into the match and played very aggressive and I did a good job in the first", said the Belgian.

"And yeah, then lost a little bit of the intensity, a little bit of the rhythm on my serve. And then when she came back at 5-5 I understood it was time to push myself a little bit more".

Henin, the red-hot favourite to claim her first Australian Open since 2004, now faces Italy's Francesca Schiavone, the 25th seed who ousted Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 6-3.

Spain's Nadal, the French Open champion, set up a third round clash with either 28th seed Gilles Simon of France or Germany's Rainer Schuettler following his comprehensive mauling of Serra.

Nadal's consummate victory followed his sterner straight sets opener on Monday against Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki, who made him work much harder.

"The important thing is I play much better. I played at a very high level in the first set", Nadal said.

"I'm happy about my improvement after first round, and especially I improved a lot with my serve and with the forehand".

The muscular Spaniard is seen as one of the few men capable of derailing the Roger Federer juggernaut as it hurtles towards a 13th Grand Slam, but he has never been beyond the quarter-finals here in three previous attempts.

Among other men in action Wednesday is sixth seed Andy Roddick, who could meet Nadal in the last eight on the seedings.

The American, who claimed his third Kooyong Classic title at the weekend, pits his wits against Germany's Michael Berrer in a night match.

Safely through to the third round are Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ended ninth seed Andy Murray's hopes in the first round, but 11th seed Tommy Robredo of Spain was sent packing by American Mardy Fish 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

The most enticing match of the day comes on Rod Laver Arena this evening when Lindsay Davenport takes on Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova, last year's beaten finalist, knows Davenport, the 2000 champion, has the game to upset her.

"Lindsay's a big hitter, has a big serve, she's more of a one-two ball combination type of player", she said of the American, who has won 18 of 19 games since her return after giving birth to a baby boy.

"It's going to be very important to serve well and return well and hopefully get a good hit on the first ball". -- AFP