NEW YORK - Former champions Justine Henin-Hardenne and Lindsay Davenport remained on course for a quarter-final showdown with lopsided second-round victories at the US Open today.
Henin-Hardenne whipped American Vania King 6-1 6-2 in just over an hour, while Davenport overwhelmed Croatia's Jelena Kostanic 6-0 6-0 on a breezy daywith clear skies.
While the top women progressed without a hitch, retiring Andre Agassi will find himself in the spotlight when he faces eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis during the night session in what could be the final match of his illustrious two-decade career.
Also in action today were Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis.
Second seed Henin-Hardenne, the 2003 Open champion, had no problem with King despite committing 18 unforced errors.
"I thought it was a lot closer than 6-1 6-2," said the 17-year-old King, who was set to sing them national anthem before the evening session.
"I made her play a lot of balls. But I didn't convert a lot of the points I should have."
Davenport blitzed Kostanic in just 40 minutes, showing no sign of the shoulder injury that forced her to retire during the final of last week's event in New Haven.
"It's feeling better," the 1998 Open champion said about the injury. "It's funny because yesterday it was really sore, and then today it was feeling much better.
"So I'm not really sure the rhyme or reason to it."
The 30-year-old Davenport uncharacteristically ventured to the net during the match but claimed she was not trying to quicken the points to save some wear and tear on her shoulder.
"I think she has the type of game that I had some more time to be able to do that," she said. "I wasn't trying to make the point shorter, I was trying just to be aggressive."
Next up for 10th seed Davenport will be either Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia or Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.
Another former champion, Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, was also in ominous form and trounced American wildcard Lauren Albanese 6-1 6-1.
