Mark Philippoussis returns to Fabrice Santoro during their second round match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday. Philippoussis won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. (AFP)

Melbourne: A red-hot Kim Clijsters pulverised Italy’s Maria Elena Camerin 6-0, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the Australian Open third round. The Belgian was joined in the winners’ circle by fiancé and former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who overcame a slow start to comfortably beat Slovakia’s Karol Kucera 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.

Women’s third seed Venus Williams, however, wasted little time as she pounded Russian Vera Douchevina 6-4, 6-2. The American is playing her first tournament since she was struck down by an abdominal injury after losing last July’s Wimbledon final to younger sister Serena.

Any doubts over Clijsters’ injured ankle were erased with a sparkling centrecourt performance. It was only the fourth time the world No. 2 had whitewashed an opponent in a Grand Slam tournament.

“That was perfect,” the second seed smiled on court. “It doesn’t happen that often that you play so well. Really perfect. My ankle felt pretty good. It flared up a little yesterday but today it felt good.”

Wimbledon champion Roger Federer safely negotiated US qualifier Jeff Morrison 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 before outlining his lofty ambitions. “I know I can win this tournament,” the second seed said.

French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero survived two injury scares to battle past Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4, 7-6, 7-5.

The Spanish third seed received pain-killers and a rub-down from a trainer after twisting his back and he called for the trainer a second time after hurting his left elbow lunging for a volley.

Clijsters, in contrast, was unhindered by injury and in ominous form. Runner-up at the French and US Opens last year, she is seeking her first Grand Slam title and meets Dinara Safina in the next round.

“She is tough... hits the ball hard and plays well,” Clijsters said. “I will have to be careful.”

Teenager Safina led a raft of Russian women into the third round earlier on Thursday. The younger sister of former world No. 1 Marat Safin upset South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer 7-5, 6-3 to post her best Melbourne Park result. The 17-year-old was beaten in the first round last year but proved too much of a handful for 27th seed Coetzer. Elena Likhovtseva emulated Safina by eliminating another seed in Francesca Schiavone, thumping the 18th-seeded Italian 6-2, 6-2.

Anastasia Myskina continued to cut through the draw with a straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Emmanuelle Gagliardi and Maria Sharapova and Lina Krasnoroutskaya completed the Russian quintet. Sharapova beat Lindsay Lee-Waters of the US 6-1, 6-3 while Krasnoroutskaya overcame Czech Barbora Strycova 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Saori Obata scored the biggest win of her largely uneventful career when she upset eighth seed Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4 in an all-Japanese battle.

The 25-year-old from Tokyo scored her first win in four matches over her more famous compatriot to reach the third round here for the first time.

American Lisa Raymond and Chanda Rubin beat Anca Barna of Germany 6-3, 6-4 and Denisa Chladkova of Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4, respectively. Amy Frasier accounted for Puerto Rico’s Kristina Brandi 2-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Argentine Paola Suarez downed the Ukraine’s Julia Vakulenko 6-3, 6-4 while Swiss Patty Schnyder beat Marion Bartoli of France 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Briton Tim Henman beat Radek Stepanek 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 to keep alive his dream of an elusive Grand Slam title.

Mark Philippoussis fought back from a stuttering start to beat Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. Santoro successfully frustrated the 10th seed in the first set, using his full repertoire of cleverly placed shots to put the Australian off balance.

However, as the match wore on, Philippoussis’ giant serves and superior power enabled him to wear down Santoro.

Spaniards Alex Corretja and David Sanchez went down to Croatian Mario Ancic and South African Wayne Ferreira, respectively. Rafael Nadal and Albert Costa, however triumphed over Thierry Ascione of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 and Wayne Arthurs of Australia 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6.

Czech Jiri Novak beat compatriot Jan Vacek 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Rafter bids adieu

Patrick Rafter finally bid a proper farewell to his fans after his brief comeback to competitive tennis ended in defeat on Thursday.

There was no fairytale ending for Rafter as he and his doubles partner, Joshua Eagle, lost 6-2, 7-5 in the first round to South Africans Jeff Coetzee and Chris Haggard.