MELBOURNE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Women's world number one Justine Henin and three-time French Open winner Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round at the Australian Open here on Wednesday.

    Top seed Henin defeated Russia's Olga Poutchkova 6-1, 7-5 on Rod Laver Arena.

    It took the Belgian only 22 minutes to seal the first set but the Russian challenger broke Henin at 1-1 and 5-3 in the second set.

    Henin fought her way back to break at 6-5 for the match.

    "I played a good first set, well into the match and played very aggressive and I did a good job in the first," said Henin.

    "Then I lost a little bit of the intensity, a little bit of the rhythm on my serve," she said.

    "When she came back came back at 5-all, I understood it was time to push myself a little bit more," she added.

    Nadal made few mistakes when the Spanish second seed stormed past Frenchman Florent Serra 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in just 94 minutes.

    He produced 39 winners and hit nine aces to book a third round position.

    The 22-year-old was happy with his performance, better than last round.

    "I played much better and I started very good. Maybe the opponent was a little bit easier, so I can come to the match. I can feel better the ball, " he said.

    Nadal tried hard to fend off a strong challenge from Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki, overcoming him 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-1 in over two and a half hours on Monday.

    He will next face French 28th seed Gilles Simon.

    Still under the investigation of betting, Russian Nikolay Davydenko refused to be distracted as the fourth seed overwhelmed Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.

    In the women's singles, Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic experienced hot and cold match while beating Edina Gallovits of Romania 6-2, 7-5.

    Defending champion and seventh seed Serena Williams eased past Chinese Yuan Meng 6-3, 6-1 to face in the third round 26th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus who sailed past Sandra Kloesel with identical 6-1.

    Fifth seed Maria Sharapova produced a surprisingly one-sided victory over former champion Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 6-3 in merely 66 minutes.

    The 20-year-old Russian still expressed her respect for the American, 12 years of her senior, who just became the top prize money earner in women's tennis on Monday.

    "To tell the truth I personally thought this match as a final. When I saw I might meet Linsay in the second round in the draw, I started to work towards her game. We all know she is the biggest hitter," said Sharapova.

    Unheralded Australian Casey Dellacqua stunned 15th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 4-6, 7-5, 8-6 to set up a third round clash with 2006 Australian Open women's singles champion Amelie Mauresmo, who overcame Russian Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).