Second seed Kim Clijsters, third seed Amelie Mauresmo and former world No. 1 Matina Hingis breezed into the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.

Clijsters knocked out China's Yuan Meng 6-4 and 6-2 amid doubt that whether she can go on with the rest of the matches due to an old lower back injury.

The second seed warned she may not be fit to take the court in the third round of the championship.

However, fifth seed Mary Pierce of France, former Australian Open champion who has won two singles crowns since she played in her first grand slam 15 years ago, was ousted by Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-3 and 7-5, struggling with contact lens problem in the face of a hot Melbourne Park wind.

The French staged a remarkable career revival in 2005 to reach the finals of the French and US Opens, as well as the season-ending WTA Tour Championship.

The doubt over Clijsters and the defeat of Pierce threatens to leave a substantial hole in their half of the women's draw which would benefit Australia's Sam Stosur.

With the absence of Australian women's No.1 Alicia Molik, the host country's last hope in women's singles, Stosur, beat 21st seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-3 7-5. This is equal to her best grand slam performance -- a third-round appearance at the Open three years ago.

Stosur will play another Austrian Sybille Bammer.

Among the other seeds into the third round today were Mauresmo who beat French compatriot Emilie Loit 7-6 (7-1) and 6-2, seventh seed Patty Schnyder of the United States who defeated Japan's Shinobu Asagoe 6-1 and 7-6 (11-9) and 20th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy who ousted Slovakia's Martina Sucha 6-3 and 6-0.

Despite coming to Melbourne as an unseeded player, Hingis took just 52 minutes to conquer Finn Emma Laine 6-1 and 6-1. The former world No. 1 broke her opponent's serve in five of her seven service games.

She will meet Benesova in the third round, with a fourth round match looming against Stosur ahead of a possible quarter-final showdown with Clijsters.

Source: Xinhua