ESPN Tennis

NEW YORK -- American Lindsay Davenport blasted her way into the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday afternoon with an impressive display of power tennis.

Meanwhile, 2004 French champion Anastasia Myskina moved on in straight sets and reigning French Open champ Justine Henin-Hardenne struggled with her game and her composure before finally overcoming Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-3, 6-4.

The world No. 1 but second seed here, Davenport took just 45 minutes to send Pauline Parmentier out of the year's final major with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of the French qualifier.

The 19-year-old Parmentier, ranked 253rd, had caused a mild upset of Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti in the opening round of her first U.S. Open but she had no answer to the Australian and Wimbledon finalist's superior all-around game.

Davenport did not drop a point on her first serve or at the net, and converted all the break-point opportunities presented to her at Arthur Ashe Stadium as she raced to a 6-1, 4-0 lead.

Parmentier gained some brief respite in the fifth game of the second set when she broke Davenport's serve but then derailed her comeback attempt with a flurry of double faults in the next game to allow the American to open a 5-1 lead.

Davenport comfortably served out for victory from there to set up a third-round meeting with either 32nd seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain or China's Tian Tian Sun, whose second-round match was getting underway on Court 8.

Davenport's potential semifinal opponent Henin-Hardenne moved into the third round of the draw early Thursday afternoon but not before a second-set wobble gave the 2003 champion some nervous moments.

The women's seventh seed and reigning French Open champion had to settle for a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sanchez Lorenzo in the opening match at Arthur Ashe Stadium after having seemed set to polish off the world No. 95, who only had entered the main draw as a lucky loser.

Henin-Hardenne, who won at Roland Garros despite struggling this year with a viral illness and knee injury, was a set and 4-1 up when her service deserted her in the sixth game. The sunshine had returned to the National Tennis Center on Day Four and the wind dropped from the strong gusts that made play so difficult on Wednesday, but it still was breezy as play got underway Thursday morning.

The Belgian sent down three double faults and a dreadful overhead shot allowed Sanchez Lorenzo to break back to 4-2, and a similarly poor forehand in the next game allowed her opponent to hold service.

Henin-Hardenne was taken to deuce in the eighth game before holding serve to go 5-3 up, but then wasted four match points in the ninth before finally closing it out on her own serve in the next game in a match that took 80 minutes.

"The conditions were pretty difficult today and worse yesterday," Henin-Hardenne said. "But I did serve a couple of double faults.

"But when my first serve is in I win a lot of points, so I need to be very focused on that and I'm sure I'll serve better, I hope, next match."

That will come against Korean Yoon Jeong Cho, who upset Argentine 27th seed Gisela Dulko, 6-4, 6-3, on Court 10. Also on the outside courts, 17th seed Jelena Jankovic of Croatia brushed aside wild card Alex Glatch, 6-2, 6-0, to advance to the third round, while 15th seed Nathalie Dechy of France overcame American qualifier Vania King, 6-1, 6-1.

Jill Craybas completed a trio of home players shown the door with a 6-0, 6-2 defeat to No. 27 Anna Chakvetadze of Russia, whose compatriot Elena Likhovtseva, seeded 19th, ousted Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva, 6-2, 6-1.

Third-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France continued pursuit of her first Grand Slam title by beating Bulgaria's Sesil Karatantcheva 6-0, 6-1 to kick off the evening session on Ashe in the women's featured night match. Mauresmo wasted little time dispensing Italy's Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round.

Information from The Associated Press and SportsTicker was used in this report.