The top three seeds in the Olympics men's singles, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, all moved easily into the third round with convincing wins here on Tuesday. The women's draw also saw dominant performances from the Williams sisters and Serbian world number one Jelena Jankovic.
Swiss top seed Federer breezed to a 6-2, 6-4 win over inexperienced but game Rafael Arevalo of El Salvador, ranked 447th in the world and only playing in the Games because of his country's small number of competitors.
"To be playing a player with a very low ranking in a very big pressure situation for me, I have nothing to win, only (everything) to lose," said Federer. Nadal crushed Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-2, while Serbian third seed Djokovic beat German veteran Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2.
Nadal, who will take over from Federer as world number one next week, was always in full control against the Australian former number one now ranked 38. Hewitt had played a gruelling doubles match that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday after going to 18-16 in the third set and his tiredness was noticeable as he crumbled under Nadal's relentless attack.
The Spaniard will play Russian Igor Andreev in the third round, with Federer meeting Czech Tomas Berdych, the 17th seed, who knocked him out in Athens four years ago. Djokovic faces a tricky tie against Russian 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny. Defending Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile was dumped out by number seven seed David Nalbandian, while Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko went down 7-5, 6-3 to Paul-Henri Mathieu. In the women's draw, the Williams sisters and Jankovic were in blistering form.
World number one Jankovic, the top player in the absence through injury of compatriot Ana Ivanovic, brushed aside Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 7-5, 6-1. The Williams sisters both confirmed their status as among the hot favourites for gold in the singles, which has been hit by a raft of withdrawals.
Fourth seed Serena took just 44 minutes to dispatch Australia's Samantha Stosur, reeling off the last 10 games to love. "It was clean," said Williams, who missed the 2004 Games in Athens through injury. "My way of improving on it is to keep it up." The 2000 doubles winner's third round opponent is French 15th seed Alize Cornet, who subdued a vociferous home crowd in outclassing China's Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-2. Serena's sister Venus, the seventh seed, demolished Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4.
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