Kim Clijsters dropped the smiles and the giggles for just 33 devastating minutes on Thursday but it was long enough to thrash Petra Mandula 6-0, 6-0 and reach the third round of the Australian Open.

Her boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, in turn, left his fist-pumping in the locker room to thunder past qualifier Todd Larkham, a qualifier ranked 234 places below the world number one.

The Australian top seed's 74-minute 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 victory was revenge for the last time the pair met. Larkham beat Hewitt 6-0, 6-4 when Hewitt was just 15-years-old at a small event in a Melbourne suburb.

In Thursday's match, Hewitt showed the qualifier no mercy at all.

"I was not looking to rub it in exactly... but I think back then I only got a few games," Hewitt said. "It was always going to be quite a tough match one way or another and I think I handled it well mentally."

The ruthless manner of his victory was matched only by that of Clijsters's whitewashing of Hungary's Mandula in the quickest contest of the week by far.

It was a performance of grit and concentration which underlined the Belgian's intent to make her grand slam breakthrough here.

SIMPLY OVERWHELMED

"I'm happy with my game, I'm playing well," Clijsters said. "I feel very much at home here."

Mandula, a solid player who last year counted world number nine Jelena Dokic among her scalps, was simply overwhelmed by the intensity of the Belgian's baseline aggression.

The one-sided thrashing also sent a clear message to world number one Serena Williams, still a little off her best, as she looks to bag the only grand slam not in her possession.

On Thursday, Williams put her nervy first-round three-set victory behind her to crush Els Callens of Belgium 6-4, 6-0.

But while Clijsters, one of the friendliest and most laid back players on the tour, was a picture of breezy confidence following her brief run-out, the American admitted to feeling the strain.

"I think I'm a little tense, maybe I'm putting a little too much pressure on myself," Williams told reporters.

"As the match wore on, I think I just calmed down...and I realised, for my future matches, that this isn't everything and things could be worse."

The world number one is bidding to become only the fifth woman in history to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time after winning last year's French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open championships.

MAJOR HURDLE

Fourth seed Clijsters, though, beat her in the final of the WTA Championships last year and looms as a major hurdle in the semi-finals providing neither slip up before then.

Marat Safin, last week's shoulder injury a faint memory, bulldozed his way into the third round seeing off Spain's Albert Montanes 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

"Is good, is good, everything is good," the brooding Russian said when asked about his right shoulder.

But perennial Open under-performer Gustavo Kuerten, seeded 30, was beaten. The former world number one from Brazil went down 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to Czech Radek Stepanek and has now failed to progress beyond the second round at Melbourne Park in seven visits.

Kuerten was joined on the sidelines by a hobbling Monica Seles. The American was knocked out of the Open by Czech qualifier Klara Koukalova after twisting her ankle at the start of their second-round match.

The former world number one crashed to a 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 defeat after bravely playing on with her left ankle heavily strapped.

It was just the second time since Seles made her grand slam debut in 1989 that she failed to make it past the second round of one of the four majors.

"I knew I was in trouble... it was a struggle from the second game," she said. "She made me run and came up with some great shots."

SELES MAKES EARLY EXIT

A hobbling Monica Seles suffered her earliest exit at a grand slam tournament when she was knocked out 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 by Czech qualifier Klara Koukalova.