Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne returns a ball to Italy's Mara Santangelo during their match at the German Open tennis tournament in Berlin May 10, 2006.  (Xinhua/Reuters)

BERLIN, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo ousted Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-2 to reach the third round of the German Open here on Wednesday.

    Mauresmo, who mainly rested since her last tournament in late March, led the top six seeds into the third round.

    Nadia Petrova, defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, Patty Schnyder, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova -- the only one of the top six to play three sets -- advanced.

    After an intense start to the year with three titles, including her maiden Grand Slam championship in Melbourne, Mauresmo took a hiatus she interrupted only for Fed Cup.

    Second-seeded Petrova beat fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) and improved to 11-0 on clay this year after sweeping both American events at Amelia Island and Charleston.

    When Petrova lost last year's final to Henin-Hardenne, she was still seeking a singles title. Since then, she has won three of her last four events and become one of the early French Open favorites.

    Third-seeded Henin-Hardenne beat Italy's Mara Santangelo 6-4, 6-1 and improved her record to 21-1 in a tournament she's won three times.

    No. 4 Patty Schnyder beat Estonia's Maret Ani, 6-1, 6-4, No. 5 Dementieva led Julia Vakulenko 6-3, 2-0 when the Ukrainian retired from dizziness, and No. 6 Kuznetsova saw off Germany's Martina Muller 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

    Germany's biggest hope, No. 7 Anna-Lena Groenefeld, was the highest seed to exit, to Catalina Castano of Colombia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, but No. 8 Daniela Hantuchova outlasted Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-4, 0-6, 6-1.

    Martina Hingis, the 1999 champ, beat Germany's Julia Schruff 6-4, 6-3 and set up a rematch with Dementieva, who beat Hingis at Tokyo in February in the only final the Swiss girl has reached since her comeback this year. Enditem