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The journey of an athlete through the labyrinth of sport is as fraught with utter disappointment as it is decorated with the sheer joy of triumph. It is only the disciplined warriors that survive the battle and live to tell the story of their triumph and disaster. Both Sania Mirza and Ana Ivanovic have been through the grind from the high pedestal of fame and fortune to the abyss of ignominious defeat and the resulting ridicule. On Wednesday, Sania lost her second round match against the rising star from Russia, the 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-4 in just 81 minutes. Meanwhile, Ana Ivanovic made a statement of intent as she disposed off Zheng Jie in just 56 minutes to advance into the third round. The big guns Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters also powered into round 3. Venus was pushed to the limit in the first set, before sailing past Rebecca Marino 7-6(3), 6-3 while the defending champion had a much easier time, needing just 56 minutes to bounce past Sally Peers of Australia 6-2, 6-1.

The 20th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was dominant early in the match against Sania Mirza breaking serve twice to take a one set lead. Sania was struggling to find rhythm and her normally reliable forehand was failing her constantly. The 159th ranked Indian raised her game to go ahead 4-2 in the second set with a break in hand. But the Russian pulled up her socks just in the nick of time to win three games on the trot, including two breaks of serve. Sania fought tooth and nail in the tenth game as she attempted to stay in the match, but the Russian saved all three break points with the help of big service winners. And on her second match point Sania netted a forehand to end the match 6-2, 6-4 in favour of Pavlyuchenkova. Sania had just 11 winners against 21 for her opponent; she also failed to convert 7 of the 9 break point opportunities that came her way during the match.

The former number one Ana Ivanovic produced yet another convincing performance to down Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-0 inside an hour. This victory will taste sweet for Ana, having lost the last two times the pair played at Wimbledon and Beijing in 2008. The Serb who climbed the summit of women's tennis in that year has since suffered injury and ignominy as she floundered her way through the WTA tour. If the first two matches are any indication, it appears that the former poster girl of women's tennis is finally recovering some of the touch that carried her to the very top of her tennis world. Ivanovic struck an impressive 22 winners in her thrashing of the 21st seed from China.

The third seed Williams encountered a determined Canadian who lacked the experience of the big stage, but made up for it with a big heart. Marino went toe to toe with the two time champion to not only force a tie break, but take a 3-1 lead. That is when pedigree showed up, as Venus ran away six straight points to put the set in the bag. The Canadian though did not put down her tools just yet, continuing to fight through the second set before Venus earned the only break of the entire match to progress to the third round.

Kim Clijsters continued her title defense in convincing fashion. She was utterly dominant in dismissing the Australian teenager Sally Peers 6-2, 6-1 in 56 minutes, playing with the authority of someone that owns Arthur Ashe. Clijsters will take on the 27th seed Czech Petra Kvitova in the third round. Kvitova downed Brit Elena Baltacha in the second round.

The fifth seed Aussie Samantha Stosur got past her fellow Aussie Anastasia Rodionova with an easy two set victory 6-1, 6-4 - the match taking just over an hour to complete. Stosur had an impressive 63% first serves in play including 8 aces to advance to the third round. The 12th seed Elena Dementieva and the 16th seed Shahar Peer also had straight set victories to progress into the round of 32.

Melanie Oudin, the darling of the Big Apple, thanks to her run to the quarter-finals last year was served a dose of reality by the newly married 29th seed Alona Bondarenko, who defeated the 43rd ranked Oudin 6-2, 7-5. The 26 year old from Ukraine sealed the match with a streak of 12 straight points from 4-5 in the second set.

The 24th seed Daniela Hantuchova was given a big scare by American Vania King who took the first set. But the Slovakian recovered in time to post a three set victory 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 after exerting herself for almost two and a half hours in the Louis Armstrong stadium.

The temperatures crossed the 100 degree mark for a second day running and the heat consumed Victoria Azarenka, who collapsed at the baseline in her match against Gisela Dulko. Azarenka had to be wheeled off court to receive treatment for a concussion she suffered in the gym while preparing for the match. The Argentine was leading her tenth seeded opponent 5-1 when the incident occurred, but Azarenka had already received treatment earlier in the set besides missing her ball toss once and hitting air on a couple of occasions as she struggled with her orientation in the sapping heat of the New York summer. Dulko will take on Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.

The 13th seed Marion Bartoli was upset by her compatriot Virginie Razzano in a closely fought match 7-5, 6-4 that consisted of ten breaks of serve. Bartoli put just 44% of her first serves into play, besides gifting seven double faults to her opponent. Another Frenchwoman, Aravane Rezai teamed up with Rajeev Ram of USA to defeat Zi Yan of China and Rohan Bopanna of India 6-2 6-4 in the first round of the mixed doubles event.

Select Scores

Singles - Second Round

(2) Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. (Q) Sally Peers (AUS) 62 61
(3) Venus Williams (USA) d. (Q) Rebecca Marino (CAN) 76(3) 63
(5) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 61 64
(6) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. (Q) Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 62 61
Gisela Dulko (ARG) d. (10) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 51 ret. (concussion)
(12) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Sybille Bammer (AUT) 63 64
(WC) Virginie Razzano (FRA) d. (13) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 75 64
(16) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 62 63
(19) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 61 64
(20) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (Q) Sania Mirza (IND) 62 64
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (21) Zheng Jie (CHN) 63 60
(24) Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. Vania King (USA) 57 63 64
(27) Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Elena Baltacha (GBR) 76(5) 63
Sara Errani (ITA) d. (28) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 62 63
(29) Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 62 75
(Q) Mandy Minella (LUX) d. (32) Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) 64 60

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