Patchy Venus Struggles Past Pin

Venus Williams insisted her bid for a first Australian Open title remained on track despite an unconvincing second-round win against the world No77 Camille Pin.

Williams had her serve broken six times by Pin but still prevailed 7-5, 6-4. Pin actually served for the first set in the 10th game but had even more trouble holding her serve throughout the match than Williams.

Pin was broken on eight occasions by her opponent despite a healthy first-serve percentage of 74 compared to just 61 for Williams, who also served six double faults to just one for Pin.

Williams, who will next take on India's Sania Mirza, said she was not concerned by her serving performance against Pin. "If I make a few mistakes, I'm not going to freak out," she said. "Nothing really worries me anymore. I feel like I know how to play, I'm fine, I feel good."

However, Williams said she was wary of Mirza, who reached the third round in Melbourne for the first time since 2005 with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 win over Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky. "I played her a little while ago and she's a good player," Williams said. "She tries to play aggressive and looks like she enjoys herself out there."

Another leading contender for the title, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, also had a tougher second-round battle than expected against the Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, whom she eventually beat 7-6 (7-0), 6-2.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion whose best performance at the Australian Open was a quarter-final appearance in 2005, came back from a set point down in the first set. The second seed's steadiness on serve proved the difference in a close match as she won 70% on her first serve and served only one double fault for the match.

Afterwards Kuznetsova admitted she was disappointed with her performance - despite setting up a third-round meeting with the 29th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who beat France's Pauline Parmentier 7-5, 6-4.

Slovakia's ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over France's Alize Cornet while Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and the Spanish veteran Virginia Ruano Pascual also reached the last 32.

Slovenia's No28 seed Katarina Srebotnik, Germany's Sabine Lisicki and Russia's 14th seed Nadia Petrova are also through. And two more Russians in Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Kirilenko set up a third-round meeting following easy second-round wins.

The two 20-year-olds both won in straight sets with sixth seed Chakvetadze beating fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-4 while the 27th seed Maria Kirilenko thrashed the Japanese veteran Akiko Morigami 6-1, 6-1.