Hingis, the top seed, moved one step closer to a fourth straight Australian Open women's title as she disposed of Belgium's Justine Henin, 6-3, 6-3, in just over an hour.

Kafelnikov, seeded second, showed no effects of the back and groin injuries that hampered him in the first round as he crushed former doubles partner Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-0, 6-1,

Trying to become the seventh player in the Open Era to win the U.S. and Australian Opens in succession, third seed Serena Williams of the United States had an easier time with her second straight Australian opponent as she dumped Nicole Pratt, 7-5, 6-1. Williams battled jet lag and pulled out a three-set win over Amanda Grahame in the first round.

Hingis broke Henin's serve three times, including twice in the final set, to improve to 28-2 lifetime at Melbourne. Henin, ranked No. 63 in the world, committed 28 unforced errors.

Hingis is looking to become the first female to win four consecutive titles in Melbourne since Margaret Smith captured seven straight from 1960-66. Her third-round opponent will be 116th-ranked Alicia Molik of Australia, who dumped Slovakia's Karina Habsudova, 6-2, 6-3.

With last year's victory over Amelie Mauresmo of France, Hingis became the first female since Monica Seles in 1991-93 to win three straight Australian Open titles.

Kafelnikov needed only 83 minutes to advance to the third round. He won 94 points to Vacek's 60 and was helped by his opponent's 54 unforced errors.

"I know I'm getting slowly to the shape that I would like to have before the tournaments," Kafelnikov said. "It wasn't a particularly good match that I played (Tuesday), but the bottom line was I got through that. I think today I played more solid than I did in the first round. Doing that, I know my confidence is a lot higher in the next round."

The Russian injured his back at an exhibition event last week and tried to compensate but suffered a groin injury early in his first-round match and gutted out the victory.

Two of last year's men's semifinalists were knocked out, increasing the number of seeded men eliminated to nine.

Seventh seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador retired due to illness in the fourth set of his match with Arnaud Clement of France. Clement was leading, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 4-1. Tenth seed Tommy Haas of Germany was upended by Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

Fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and No. 12 Magnus Norman of Sweden avoided the upset bug by posting straight-set wins. Kiefer defeated countryman Tomas Behrend, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, 6-2, and Norman beat Gianluca Pozzi of Italy, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

In an unseeded matchup of note, red-hot Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt improved to a perfect 12-0 this year as he vanquished former world No. 2 Alex Corretja of Spain, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1.

"I'm taking it one match at a time," Hewitt said. "It's tough if you go into all the matches as the favorite. It's a new experience for me. If I was in the other half (of the draw) it's odds on I would be going in as the underdog in just about every match."

The 18-year-old Hewitt, who won back-to-back titles in his homeland to gear up for Melbourne, puts his unbeaten streak on the line against Adrian Voinea of Romania in the third round. Voinea disposed of Spain's Albert Portas, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

Four other seeds advanced to the third round on the women's side, but No. 8 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa did not. American Kristina Brandi stunned Coetzer, a two-time semifinalist, 6-1, 6-3.

Sixth seed Barbara Schett of Austria dispatched Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4; 10th seed and 1998 finalist Conchita Martinez of Spain outdueled Olga Barabanschikova of Belarus, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; and No. 12 Sandrine Testud of France rolled past Angelica Gavaldon of Mexico, 6-1, 6-2.

Also, No. 13 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, a runner-up in 1994-95, got past American Lisa Raymond, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, and No. 16 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia downed American Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-3, 7-5.