Serena Hits Top Form In Night Win

Defending champion Serena Williams gave a stunning display of power tennis as she demolished Hungary's Melinda Czink in the second round of the US Open. The American, playing in front of a record night-session crowd of 24,206, won 6-1 6-1 in 53 minutes. Her sister Venus, the third seed, came through her earlier match with Bethanie Mattek-Sands despite wearing heavy strapping on her injured knee. Venus made plenty of errors but still saw off the world number 124, 6-4 6-2. Venus was again far from convincing and had to save a series of break points before sealing her progress but is determined not to let her injury distract her. The two-time champion, who will play world number 46 Magdalena Rybarikova in round three, said: "I was moving pretty good and just put all my focus on hitting the ball and not how my body was. "It's not a huge surprise that, at this time of the year, things are starting to hurt a little but I am just determined to play every match I can."I'm still playing well and I feel I'll continue to play better as the rounds go on. I'm trying not to make this injury a factor at all." Serena was on top form as she thrashed Czink inside an hour to set up a clash with Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. "I think I kept my unforced errors low tonight," said the American, who had beaten Czink on hard courts only two months ago. "I definitely made some adjustments. "I played her a few weeks ago for the first time so I knew her game better today. She's a really good player so I was really pumped coming out here and I knew I had to play really good." Kim Clijsters, the 2005 champion who has just returned to the Tour after a two-year absence, beat 14th seed Marion Bartoli 5-7 6-1 6-2. "She was playing really well and dominating the points and my forehand was not going the way I wanted it to," said the Belgian. "So it was a smart move to mix it up at the start of the second set. I was trying to figure out a way where I could mix my game up and break her rhythm. "I like this more than the first match which I won 6-1 6-1. I stayed focused and worked out a game plan and that is more rewarding when you win a game like this." Earlier, Bartoli's compatriot Amelie Mauresmo made the earliest US Open exit of her career as she crashed to a 6-4 6-0 defeat against rising Canadian star Aleksandra Wozniak. Mauresmo, a two-time semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows who has reached the last eight on four separate occasions, went 2-0 up in the first set but then lost 12 of the next 14 games. The 30-year-old French star says she will consider her tennis future at the end of the year but is anxious not to quit the game too soon. "The thing I don't want to do is make the decision to stop and then after two, six, eight months think, it was not quite the time yet," Mauresmo explained. "Because then it's probably too hard, I would say, to make a comeback like Kim is making now, given my age." India's Sania Mirza suffered the heaviest defeat of the day as she was completely outclassed 6-0 6-0 by 10th seed Flavia Pennetta. The Indian world number 74 said afterwards: "When you lose love and love there is not much you can say, but I felt I didn't play that badly. She played exceptionally well. Everything was working for her. "There are days like that and you just have to move forward. I told her in the locker room afterwards that if she continues to play like that she will be number one in the world." Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus had few problems against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, beating the Czech 6-2 6-1, while Russian Maria Kirilenko put out 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 2-6 6-4. Russia's Anna Chakvetadze threatened an upset when she went a set up against compatriot Vera Zvonareva before the seventh seed recovered to win 3-6 6-1 6-1. But 15th seed Sam Stosur is out after surprisingly losing 7-5 6-4 to America's Vania King, the world number 114.