HARD-EARNED WIN: Maria Sharapova got past Ashley Harkleroad at the Australian Open on Wednesday. — PHOTO: AP

MELBOURNE: With Andy Roddick's personal cheering section leading the way, it was a red, white and blue day at the Australian Open tennis tournament.

Second-seeded Roddick shrugged off an ankle sprain and was nearly perfect in beating Wesley Moodie of South Africa 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round.

Defending women's champion Serena Williams used her match against soft-hitting Camille Pin of France as a virtual practice session while extending her winning streak here to 16 matches with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport had to work a little harder to defeat Karolina Sprem of Croatia.

Another American, 20th-seeded James Blake, rallied from a set down to oust French qualifier Jean-Christophe Faurel.

Robby Ginepri could have made it an even better day for the U.S. contingent but fell to qualifier Denis Gremelmayr after winning the first two sets and leading 3-0 in the third.

Fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova overcame 31 unforced errors and fended off three set points for American qualifier Ashley Harkleroad in the second set to advance 6-1, 7-5.

Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian, seeded fourth, needed three hours to beat 46th-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

It was a cloudless day at Melbourne Park, and the heat had players sheltering in the shade between points.

Cheer leaders

Roddick's cheering session included a group of young women who wore spangled red, blue and silver hats, had the letters of his name painted on their bare stomachs and chanted cheers.

With a sprinkling of American flags around Rod Laver Arena, it almost looked like Roddick was playing at the U.S. Open.

When Moodie, the Wimbledon doubles champion, netted a backhand on match point, Roddick turned to them, pumped his fist and whacked up to them as they chanted ``USA!''

``Would you believe me if I said every one of those is my cousin?'' Roddick joked afterward. ``It's nice when you have 30-some-odd girls in bikinis cheering for you.''

Roddick was at the top of his game, yielding only 17 points in 15 service games and committing only nine unforced errors.

``I'll take that most days,'' he said.

Moodie tried to apply pressure on him, rushing the net behind a serve that was nearly as fast as Roddick's primary weapon. Despite his deft volleying, Moodie won only 57 percent of his 58 net approaches as Roddick's passing shots left him lunging from side to side.

Roddick broke serve for the first time to take the first set. After Moodie fended off a break point and held for 3-3 in the second set, he didn't have another game point until he already was down 2-0 in the third set.

``I wanted to return well,'' Roddick said. ``I feel like after the first four games of the match, I really started doing that. If I can do that, it will make my serve look that much better to the other guys.''

Roddick said he slightly injured his right ankle early in the match but hoped that the trainers would give it ``a little TLC'' and make it better.

A shock first-round loser at the last U.S. Open, Roddick meets Julien Benneteau of France in the third round.

Williams, seeking her eighth Grand Slam title, lost her serve twice in the match but broke Pin six times and finished with 30 winners against only six for the French player.

``It's never as easy as it looks,'' Williams said. ``I'm just happy to be getting through the rounds.''

Williams, backed by a vocal contingent in her first appearance on packed Vodafone Arena, seemed to get frustrated with the 130th-ranked Pin's lack of pace, pounding the ball harder and harder, grunting with the effort.

Williams next faces 17th-seeded Daniel Hantuchova of Slovakia, who beat Asian wild-card entry Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4, 6-1. Williams won the Australian Open in 2003 and 2005, and missed the 2004 event because of injuries.

Sharapova got a tougher-than-expected challenge from the 107th-ranked Davenport will face 25th-seeded Maria Kirilenko, who had a 7-6 (1), 6-4 win over fellow Russian Galina Voskoboeva.

No. 7 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 8 Gaston Gaudio, 2002 champion and 10th-seeded Thomas Johansson, No. 11 David Ferrer, No. 16 Tommy Robredo and No. 18 Mario Ancic also advanced.

No. 13 Ginepri failed to reproduce his successful marathon efforts of the U.S. Open, where he played a record four five-set matches. — AP

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seedings

Men's singles (second round): 8-Gaston Gaudio (Arg) bt Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 7-Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 7-5, 6-2, 6-1; Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) bt 13-Robby Ginepri (U.S.) 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt 17-Radek Stepanek (Cze) 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 7-5; Julien Benneteau (Fra) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-1; 18-Mario Ancic (Cro) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; 11-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Daniele Bracciali (Ita) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2;

2-Andy Roddick (U.S.) bt Wesley Moodie (RSA) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2; 26-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Wang Yeu-tzuoo (Tpe) 6-2, 7-6(3), 6-2; Gilles Simon (Fra) bt 19-Tomas Berdych (Cze) 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; 31-Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt Gilles Muller (Lux) 6-2, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4; 20-James Blake (U.S.) bt Jean-Christophe Faurel (Fra) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; 16-Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3; 10-Thomas Johansson (Swe) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; 4-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Stanislas Warwinka (Sui) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Women's singles (second round): Olga Savchuk (Ukr) bt 23-Jelena Jankovic (SCG) 6-3, 6-4; Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Julia Schruff (Ger) 6-0, 7-5; 1-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) bt Karolina Sprem (Cro) 7-6(4), 6-3; Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3; Jelena Kostanic (Cro) bt Zuzana Ondraskova (Cze) 6-2, 6-1; 8-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt Hana Sromova (Cze) 7-6(2), 6-1; 25-Maria Kirilenko (Rus) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Rus) 7-6(1), 6-4; 17-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-4, 6-1; 14-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Esp) 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-2; Maria Elena Camerin (Ita) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-2; 6-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Martina Muller (Ger) 6-4, 6-1; 13-Serena Williams (U.S.) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-3, 6-1; Virginie Razzano (Fra) bt Conchita Martinez Granados (Esp) 7-6(3), 6-3; Laura Granville (U.S.) bt Tszvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-5, 6-2; Virginia Ruano Pascual (Esp) bt 18-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Ashley Harkleroad (U.S.) 6-1, 7-5.

Men's doubles (first round): 7-Martin Damm (Cze) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt Peter Luczak & Shannon Nettle (Aus) 6-3, 6-2.

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