Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open when she cruised past German Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-2 today.
Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open when she cruised past German Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-2 today.
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The 23-year-old from St Petersburg, who won the US Open in 2004, was never in any trouble against Malek, who at No 239 is a full 231 places below Kuznetsova on the world rankings.
The Russian's main problem came from the high winds that swirled relentlessly around the exposed Margaret Court Arena.
"The condtions were hard but I think I played quite well with the wind, so I'm happy with that," she said.
"The wind was swirling around and it was hard -- I had to move around a lot, but I think I coped well."
Kuznetsova broke Malek twice in each set and ran away with the match to the cheers of a small group of Russian supporters who waved flags and sang songs at every opportunity.
The rest of the sparse crowd were willing Malek to make a fight of it, but the 21-year-old could not cope with the occasion or the conditions and surrendered in 59 minutes.
Kuznetsova will play Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the third round and remains on track for a possible semi-final against second seed Serena Williams.
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