Andre Agassi thrashed South Korean Lee Hyung-taik 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.

To draw triple former champion Agassi as early as the second round had been a cruel slice of luck for Lee.

The son of a potato farmer was feted in his homeland at the weekend, having become the first South Korean to win an ATP event.

But that victory at the Sydney International, where as a qualifier he beat world number four Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final, was a fuzzy memory on Melbourne Park's centre court.

After winning the opening game of the match, Lee lost the next 18 as seven times grand slam winner Agassi romped to an 80-minute victory.

"Needless to say I felt great about everything," Agassi said. "I was hitting the ball with conviction... my errors were down, my winners were up.

"Still, for the match to go that way was a bit unexpected."

Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium blanked Russia's Anna Kournikova 6-0, 6-1. It was Kournikova's heaviest grand slam defeat.

She could barely keep the ball in court; the serve was wildly erratic and she lost the opening set in only 18 minutes.

Attempts to switch tactics came to nought. Her touch deserted her, shots ricocheted off the frame of her racket as she rushed in desperation, swinging wildly at the ball.

Kournikova finally held serve in the second game of the second set to mildly uncomfortable cheers from her fans.

A game later a horrendous second serve, which bounced before it hit the net, meant she was broken again before Henin-Hardenne served out for a 4-1 lead.

Two games later it was all over.

The Russian rushed from the court immediately after her 48-minute ordeal ended, red-faced and clearly upset by the humiliation.

More than an hour later, make-up reapplied and wearing a black tracksuit top and black cap, Kournikova put a brave face.

She said, "We were both on the court... I think it was a match. I think that in general my game has got better. Before I was hitting the ball hard, now I am playing smarter.

"I noticed that too," she said when questioned about her serve falling apart at the end of the first set.

"I have to go away and practice more. It wasn't too bad, though.

"I guess… here I knew I had to do a little more, not give her so many opportunities. Maybe I went for a little too much."

The Russian's previous worst showing at a grand slam event was when she lost 6-2, 6-1 to Steffi Graf in the fourth round of the 1996 US Open. Back then Kournikova was a major new talent with an exciting game.

When Martina Hingis beat her 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the French Open in 1997, she had become a credible challenger. A few weeks later she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

There is a strong argument for reverting to her early tactics if Wednesday's showing is anything to go by.

Henin-Hardenne is not in the band of power players with whom Kournikova freely admits she struggles to compete.

Rather she is a player of touch and finesse, a clever tactician. The sort of role in which Kournikova was cast during the early days of her career.

But as the Belgian has grown in confidence and stature, Kournikova has been on the slide.

Each year her sponsors unveil a new Anna outfit. Each year it is given just one day's exposure on the singles courts of the grand slam stage.

Alexandra Stevenson's appalling grand slam run continued when the 15th seed lost 6-2, 6-2 to Czech Denisa Chladkova.

Since going through to the semi-finals of Wimbledon on her debut in 1999, the American has lost in the first round of 10 grand slams and in the second round a further three times.

Stevenson added another second-round loss to that record as she threw in 33 unforced errors in the match against Chladkova.