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By Nick Georgandis
© Mark Peterson/Corleve

There was no throwback to glory days for Dinara Safina on Day 2 of the Australian Open.

There was only the indomitable, irrepressible force of nature that Kim Clijsters has once again become.

Clijsters, the tournament's third seed, destroyed Safina 6-0, 6-0, a shocking fall from grace for a woman who made the finals here in 2009.

"There was nothing that I could hurt her. Embarrassing," Safina said. "It's really to scratch the head and to think what the hell I'm doing?"

America's Lauren Davis got a similar treatment from home favorite Samantha Stosur, who crushed her 6-1, 6-1. Vera Zvonareva did likewise against Sybille Bammer, cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 win despite tallying five double faults.

Even previously-struggling Jelena Jankovic managed a sweep, albeit of the 6-0, 7-6(5) variety, but 19th-seeded Ana Ivanovic wasn't so lucky, blowing a 1-0 lead to Ekatertina Makarova and tumbling out of the tournament in three, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8.

It was ho-hum for the rest of the seeded players as No. 26 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, No. 31 Lucie Safarova, No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 13 Nadia Petrova, No. 10 Shahar Peer and No. 25 Petra Kvitova all advanced.

It was a dismal day for American women, however. In addition to Davis' rout at the hands of Stosur, teenager Coco Vandeweghe was routed by France's Alize Cornet, 6-2, 6-1, while Varvara Lepchenko fell in three and fan favorite Melanie Oudin lost to Klara Zakopalova.

 

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