Tennis: Pe'er through to 2nd round of Australian Open

29th seeded Israeli overcomes Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1.

By AP, JPOST.COM STAFF
Peer Australian Open (photo credit: AP)
Peer Australian Open
(photo credit: AP)
Shahar Pe'er advanced to the second round of the Australian Open overnight Tuesday.
The 29th seeded Israeli overcame Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1.
In other Melbourne action, US Open champion Kim Clijsters took another step toward winning a second consecutive Grand Slam with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round.
Clijsters will next play No. 19 Nadia Petrova, one of the Russian women already into the third round after French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Kirilenko advanced earlier Wednesday.
On the men's side, No. 7 Andy Roddick had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci and No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the 2007 runner-up, beat Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
No. 16-ranked Yanina Wickmayer, a Belgian who didn't get a seeding in Melbourne because her suspension for a World Anti-Doping Agency "whereabouts rule" violation hadn't been overturned before entries closed, reached the third-round with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win over No. 12 Flavia Penneta of Italy.
Kuznetsova was first into the third round when she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2.
No. 11 Marion Bartoli advanced and Britain's Elena Baltacha equaled her best run at the season's first major by reaching the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 30 Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine. She could next meet 2009 finalist Dinara Safina, who was playing later Wednesday.
China's Zheng Jie won 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 over No. 24 Maria Jose Martinez of Spain.
No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who lost the US Open final to Clijsters, had a 6-4, 6-2 first-round win over Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak.
In other first-round matches carried over to Wednesday from the rain-interrupted opening days, No. 7 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat French wild card Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 6-0, No. 9 Vera Zvonareva beat Kristina Kucova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0 and No. 16 Li Na of China, a quarterfinalist at the US Open, beat New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-0.
No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia also advanced.
returned to Grand Slam play Tuesday for the first time since her tirade against the line judge who called her for a foot fault during her US Open semifinal loss to Clijsters.
And while the 11-time major winner did seem less effusive than usual on court, Williams didn't hold back after her 6-2, 6-1 win over 18-year-old Urszula Radwanska about what she thought of the punishment.
"I don't know whoever got fined like that. People said worse, done worse," she said, "I think it was a bit much."
Sixth-seeded Venus Williams opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Lucie Safarova. Melanie Oudin, the 18-year-old American who made a surprising run to last year's U.S. Open quarterfinals, lost 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 to Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
Roger Federer had a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-0 first-round win over Russia's Igor Andreev, while No. 3 Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion here, beat Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.