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Dokic powers her way to third round

Jelena Dokic, the conqueror of world No. 1 Martina Hingis, proved that her first round demolition of Martina Hingis was no flash in the pan as she made it to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships today.

The 16-year-old Australian, however, had to fight twice as hard than in her match against Hingis to get the better of Katarina Studenikova of Slovakia 6-0, 4-6, 8-6 in a second round match.

Dokic, who entered the tournament as a qualifier, had things her way in the opening stanza, but had to draw on all her staying power in the next two sets to come out triumphant.

She now plays Anne Kremer of Luxembourg, who beat Brie Rippner of the US 6-2, 6-3.

Ninth seed Mary Pierce was put to little trouble by Italian Rita Grande as she sailed through her second round match 6-1, 6-3.

Dutchman Richard Krajicek, the fifth seed in the men's draw, eased past Todd Woodbridge of Australia 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 with an impressive display of power tennis, including 18 aces.

Like Hingis, Studenikova had few answers to Dokic's uninhibited approach to the game in the first set. The Australian's pulverising drives on both flanks, mingled with sublime drop shots, repeatedly left her opponent floundering.

Yugoslav-born Dokic won the first set in 23 minutes, meaning she had won 17 games in a row in her two matches.

Studenikova opened her account in the first game of the second set and broke Dokic's serve on her fifth break point to come back to 2-2 as she began to mix up her game. Dokic seemed tense as the 26-year-old applied the pressure and Studenikova won the second set on her first set point as Dokic hit a forehand long.

Studenikova, ranked 114 in the world, knows about shock defeats of number ones at Wimbledon, having beaten Monica Seles in the second round in 1996.

The third set was a finely-poised battle and, with Dokic again finding her length to the baseline, she achieved a break for 5-4. But, serving for the match, she lost the next game to love unhappy at a line call that went against her at 0-30.

Dokic broke back for 6-5, was broken for 6-6 and then took a 7-6 lead before winning the match on her first match point.

Frenchwoman Pierce, the 1995 Australian Open champion, spent just 61 minutes seeing off Grande, ranked 49 places below her at 56th in the world.

Grande gave away two breaks in the first set with double faults. She was broken again to love at the start of the second set and though she saved two breakpoints to hold for 3-4 she fell victim to Pierce's powerful groundstrokes again on her next serve.

The match opened the day's proceedings on court three, which seats only 800, causing a security headache for organisers as more and more fans tried to press into two narrow alleyways on each side of the court where limited standing is allowed.

Courier shocks Moya On Wednesday, Jim Courier shocked 12th seed and former world No 1 Carlos Moya 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 in the second round in a five-set tussle between former French Open champions.

The 28-year-old American, who was himself world number one back in 1992, showed that he still possessed the skill and drive to win big matches. It is the first time in six years that Courier, runner-up in 1993, has progressed this far at Wimbledon.

Five-times champion Pete Sampras needed just 81 minutes to crush Canada's Sebastien Laureau 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Laureau showed the odd flash of inspiration - even breaking Sampras's serve twice -- but didn't have the weaponry to hurt the top seed.

In the third round Sampras meets British qualifier Danny Sapsford.

Graf survives a scare Women's second seed Steffi Graf, a favourite for the title following the shock first round exit of top seed Martina Hingis, survived an early scare to beat Mariaan De Swardt 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The German had no answer to the powerful South African early on but she battled back to show flashes of her best in the final set. It brought back memories of Wimbledon 1992, when de Swardt forced Graf to three sets on centre court, only to lose 7-5 in the decider.

"I felt like a spectator at the beginning, the way she was serving," Graf said.

Mantilla first seed to fall Spanish 16th seed Felix Mantilla became the first men's seed to fall at this year's Wimbledon, losing 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 to American Paul Goldstein minutes before Moya suffed the same fate.

After the shock of losing Hingis to a 16-year-old qualifier on Tuesday, the women's draw took a more predictable course on Wednesday.

Fourth seed Monica Seles charged into the third round with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over debutante Marlene Weingartner of Germany, losing just 15 points in the 35-minute clash.

Sixth seed Venus Williams, a quarter-finalist here last year, overwhelmed Ukrainian world number 54 Elena Tatarkova, winning 6-3, 6-4.

Jelena Dokic, the teenager who thrashed Hingis in the first round, turned her attention to the doubles, where she and Slovenian partner Tina Pisnik beat Eva Melicharova and Helena Vildova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2.

Men's ninth seed Greg Rusedski thrashed British compatriot Arvind Parmar, a qualifier, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. The 21-year-old Parmar took just 11 points on Rusedski's serve.

Rusedski now faces an interesting test against Swede Magnus Norman, who beat Goran Ivanisevic 14-12 in the fifth set in an epic second-round match at Wimbledon two years ago.

Norman, who has a long-standing heart problem which doctors have warned could curtail his professional career, beat Fabrice Santoro of France 6-2, 6-3, 7-6.

Thirteenth seed Karol Kucera of Slovakia made it into the third round with a 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Brazilian qualifier Andre Sa, while 1997 runner-up Cedric Pioline also went through after beating fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.