Venus stutters to straight-set victory

Second seed Venus Williams made life hard for herself on a steamy afternoon at the Australian Open, recovering from a 4-1 deficit in the second set before eventually beating Germany's Anca Barna 6-1, 6-4.

Barna succeeded in forcing 12 break points, but she only managed to convert two of them as Williams played some inspiredl tennis to rescue her from the more mundane moments.

The American was broken to love in the first game of the tie, but she then won six consecutive games to see out the first set in double-quick time.

The stutters which had affected her first round victory returned as Barna moved into a 4-1 lead and held three break points to be in a position to serve for the set.

That sixth game proved the turning point, however, as Williams upped her game, saved all three points to reduce Barna's lead to 4-2, and then won the next four games to seal the win.

Williams is yet to drop a set in the tournament and, despite today's difficulties, she will pose a formidable opponent for Australian Nicole Pratt in the fourth round.

The American said she was not concerned about losing crowd support against Pratt. "I've played a lot of favourites in my time. I am really happy for her that she's able to get to this round."

Pratt races through

Pratt dumped Argentine 23rd seed Paola Suarez 7-5, 6-4 to become the first home player to reach the fourth round of the women's singles at the Australian Open for 10 years.

Playing her home grand slam for the 13th time, the 29-year-old thrilled the partisan crowd with a brave performance to reach the last 16.

Despite being Australia's top-ranked woman for several years, Pratt has never won a tournament, though in a completely unconnected thread, she did once race Olympic athletics gold medallist Cathy Freeman as a schoolgirl.

She said she was thrilled to make it past the third round of a grand slam for the first time.

"I"ve been a hard worker for a long time now", she said. "To be in the fourth round of a grand slam, especially the Australian Open, is very satisfying.

"I have taken a few knocks, put in the hard work, and I'm happy to be here."

Davenport relishing underdog role

Lindsay Davenport has slipped almost unnoticed into the fourth round to set up a match with the fifth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in what promises to be one of the ties of the tournament.

Davenport, champion here in 2000 and seeded ninth this time, calls herself an underdog but played like the favourite, destroying Russian Tatiana Panova 6-2, 6-1 to reach the last 16.

"I don't know when the last time I was out of the top four seeds, probably sometime in 1997 or 1996. It's such a different position for me to be in," she reflected.

"But it is nice to be the underdog, or the semi-underdog. I still feel like I belong at the top of the game."

Easy victory for Henin-Hardenne

Fifth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne overwhelmed Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-2, 6-0, breaking the number 32 seed twice in the first set and dominating the second behind some dazzling shot-making and clever use of angles.

Henin-Hardenne, a quarter-finalist here last year, eventually wrapped up a one-sided encounter with a service winner on her first match point after one hour on court.

The 20-year-old Belgian, who reached the final of Wimbledon in 2001, will be looking for her first victory over Davenport having lost her five previous meetings.

Meanwhile, Marlene Weingarter's giant killing run came to an end as she was beaten by Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.

The German, who reduced Jennifer Capriati to tears as she beat her in the first round, finally succumbed to a three match defeat, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

Australian Open women's third round results

2-Venus Williams (US) beat Anca Barna (Germany) 6-1, 6-4
9-Lindsay Davenport (US) beat 24-Tatiana Panova (Russia) 6-2, 6-1
Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat 23-Paola Suarez (Argentina) 7-5, 6-4
Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) beat Marlene Weingartner (Germany) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Denisa Chladkova (Cze) bt Evie Dominikovic (Aus) 6-3, 6-2
7-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Samantha Stosur (Australia) 6-4, 6-2
5-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat 32-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-2, 6-0
12-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3