davenport dismantles young rival top seed lindsay davenport booked her place in the last 16 of the australian open with a convincing 62 64 win over nicole vaidisova of the czech republic the american had too much power for her 15yearold opponent breaking twice in the first set and once in the second the germanborn vaidisova rallied well at times but was unable to find a way back after falling behind 32 in the opening set davenport who closed out with an ace plays karolina sprem in the next round i was fully expecting a tough opponent and was able to play well enough to get through it said davenport i think she hits some great shots she made some errors but probably some inexperience played a role in that but she s so young and obviously has a big game and has many many years to improve on that sprem the croatian 13th seed saw off russia s elena likhovtseva 63 62 former world number one powered her way into the fourth round with a straight sets win over anna smashnova the 27th seed from israel stuck with williams until 33 in the first set before it became oneway traffic the american made 26 unforced errors but was still good enough to romp through the contest in exactly an hour she reeled off nine straight games to finish a 63 60 winner remains on course to become the first australian to win her home title since chris o neil in 1978 the 10th seed equalled her best performance at a grand slam event when she beat unseeded russian nadia petrova 63 62 to reach the fourth round after a tough first set molik grew in confidence and won in just 56 minutes she will now meet venus williams bring it on said the 23yearold i played pretty well and it was nice to get through in straight sets we were destined to meet i guess williams said referring to her match with molik it will be a huge match for her in australia i can tell she s probably very motivated by that so i need to get out there and play well beat slovakia s daniela hantuchova in a rollercoaster match dementieva came through 75 57 64 becoming the seventh russian woman to reach the last 16 in melbourne the match lasted almost three hours and featured 13 service breaks including three in the final set when dementieva held her nerve to seal the win she now faces after the swiss 12th seed beat american abigail spears 76 63 french open champion received a free ride into the last 16 after lisa raymond was forced to withdraw raymond the 25th seeded american was ruled out after sustaining a left abdominal muscle tear in the doubles myskina the third seed now plays france s who beat francesca schiavone of italy 63 63 i m extremely disappointed because i couldn t have asked to play better in my first two