An easy day in office for Serena

The world No 1 strolls past her opponent but elder sister Venus heads towards a likely semi-final showdown only after breaking into a sweat.

Both of the Williams sisters continued their progress towards a possible semi-final showdown in Melbourne yesterday, but the pair booked their places in the third round in contrasting fashion. For world No 1 Serena it was an easy day at the office as she strolled to a 6-1, 6-2 success over Petra Kvitova. The Czech teenager was swept aside by the defending champion in just 67 minutes, with Serena winning more than 90 per cent of her first service points and breaking her opponent's serve four times. "I thought it was a little bit better than my match in my first round," Serena said. "I felt like I was moving better and I had better energy." The Spanish No 32 seed Carla Suarez Navarro is next for Serena tomorrow, and she said she will be wary of her due to the fact she knocked out her sibling Venus at the same stage last year.

"I know she took out Venus around this time last year, if I'm not mistaken," she added. "I would hate to see it become a habit for her, taking out a sister this time every year. "I definitely will talk to her [Venus] and see what goes next." But while Venus also won in straight sets as she got the better of Sybille Bammer 6-2, 7-5, she had to work harder to claim her spot in the last 32. The 29-year-old, who has never won this tournament, swept through the first seed against her German opponent easily, but then wobbled in the second as she went a break down. Though she subsequently fought back to go ahead in the set, she was broken on her first attempt at serving for the match and only sealed victory at the second attempt. Venus next meets home favourite Casey Dellacqua, who beat Croatian Karolina Sprem, and she said she would not be pondering her unconvincing second set for too long. "I don't necessarily put a lot of importance on if I played well one day or not," she said. "It's really about obviously winning the match and then improving for the next day.

"So if I have a good day or not as good a day, I just put that behind me and get ready for the next match." Former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic continued her disappointing grand slam form since winning the 2008 French Open as she fell at the second round hurdle. The Serbian has failed to get past the fourth round in seven majors since her Roland Garros triumph and fell to the world No 36 Gisela Dulko 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-4. The 22-year-old was a finalist at Melbourne Park two years ago, but her ranking has slipped to 21 as she has struggled with her form and she acknowledged she is becoming frustrated with her early exits. "It hurts, I must say," she said. "I think I just have to be patient. It will take some time. I do feel better on the court. I feel like my old self. There are still some areas that are not there for me to rely on when I need them the most. Some matches it's there, some not."

Ninth seed Vera Zvonareva will meet Dulko in the third round after the ninth seed defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-3. Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki played for the second consecutive day but showed no ill-effects with a trouble-free 6-3, 6-1 win over Germany's Julia Goerges. @Email:[e-mail] Abu Dhabi Sports 2 from 4am