Venus quickly gets up to speed

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Of course, Venus Williams has a faster serve than Camille Pin of France. Then again, you can say that about almost anyone compared with Williams in the women’s draw -- especially since Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and her 130-mph weapon aren’t roaming around Melbourne Park.

Still, the disparity between the average service speeds today at the Australian Open between Williams and Pin was quite startling when it flashed up on the screen in the final game of their second-round match, which Williams won, 7-5, 6-4, in 1 hour 33 minutes.

Williams: 173 km. Pin: 134 km.

For those of you at home, that would be 108 mph for the winner, Williams, and 83 mph for Pin.

Still, who hasn’t had trouble trying to return a, well, leisurely serve? You can hear the telling screams all the way from USTA league matches to the Grand Slams.

“Just because it’s slower doesn’t mean it’s easier,” said the eighth-seeded Williams, who will next play Sania Mirza of India.

Certainly Maria Sharapova knows. She nearly suffered a first-round exit here in 2007 against Pin before prevailing in three sets.

Williams, looking sluggish and unusually tired, was forced to find another gear, rallying from a 1-3 second-set deficit. Pin had a point to go ahead 5-3 but Williams erased it with a cross-court winner.

“She definitely played well. I wanted to rush a little bit too much,” Williams said. “Later in the second set, I finally realized, ‘Whoa, she wants to run.’ Well, let her run.”

Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland continued to roll through in increasingly dominating fashion, crushing Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

And Santoro has often been an entertaining and difficult opponent for Federer, in particular, a memorable second-round match at the 2005 U.S. Open, which Federer won, 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (2).

Santoro’s perspective goes back to when they first played one another in the pros, in 1999.

“He’s still working hard,” Santoro said. “He’s still improving. It’s tough to say, because he was a tremendous player the past four years, and I think he’s a better player today. He’s a better athlete, too. He’s moving unbelievably well.”

It’s little wonder Santoro pointed at the scoreboard near the end, saying: “Because the reality was pretty bad for me.”

Looking ahead

Among those playing in the third round will be Serena Williams, with matches beginning at 4 p.m. PST.

Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish will be playing late matches.

Advantage, Maria

Power was returned with more power, and the hurdles facing new mother Lindsay Davenport in her comeback became a cold reality after No. 5 Sharapova beat her, 6-1, 6-3, in 66 minutes.

The marquee second-round match between the hard-hitting baseliners and former No. 1s never quite caught fire and 31-year-old Davenport lost for the second time in 21 matches since returning to the tour in September.

Then again, there is a world of difference between the quality of the opposition in Quebec City and Auckland, New Zealand, and Sharapova.

“She was head and shoulders better than I was,” said Davenport, who gave birth to son Jagger in June.

Still, she thought that a return to the top 10 would not be out of the question by the end of 2008. This result will put Davenport inside the top 50, but the next goal is to make sure she is seeded by her next Slam event, Wimbledon, thereby avoiding such an early match against Sharapova or No. 1 Justine Henin.

It’s the Yank, not

Jankovic, watch

Bosnian-born American Amer Delic had the requisite crowd support, five-something deep around Court 13, but the fervent supporters couldn’t quite get the qualifier past the finish line against Juan Monaco of Argentina.

Delic suffered from cramps in the fourth set, yet managed to push it to five sets. Monaco won, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-7 (8), 8-6.

“The fifth set was just survival out there,” Delic said. “It wasn’t pretty. I was just trying to keep it going. I ended up being up a break but just couldn’t hold on to it. I think those qualifying matches caught up.”

Sam Querrey of Thousand Oaks moved into the third round with a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over No. 32-seeded Dmitry Tursunov.

Quote of the day

Venus Williams, on local TV broadcasters making recent complimentary comments about her rear end: “Well, I think Serena is the Williams sister that is famous for her derriere. She makes all kinds of songs, Kanye West and Snoop Dogg, all kinds of things. She’s renowned. So I guess I’m getting a one-up on her, maybe.”

Quote II

Sharapova, joking about father Yuri’s cold-weather attire, a hood and dark glasses: “I swear he’s a nice guy. I told him he looked like an assassin with that jacket on.”

--

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

--

ON THE WEB

In featured matches after press time, there was this intriguing battle of charisma: 2005 champion Marat Safin against 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Also in second-round play finishing earlier today: James Blake, above, battled fellow American Michael Russell, while another American, Vince Spadea, took on Denis Gremelmayr of Germany.

For results go to

www.latimes.com/sports.