Kim, Andy thru'

Andy Murray of Britain returns during his Australian Open third round match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in Melbourne yesterday.Photo: AFP

Favourite Kim Clijsters subdued a battling Alize Cornet to reach the Australian Open last 16 Saturday, as Andy Murray and Robin Soderling remained in impeccable form.
As women's second seed Vera Zvonareva also progressed, Clijsters was made to work by the awkward Cornet, who fought hard on her 21st birthday but could not prevent the Belgian's 7-6, 6-3 win.
US Open champion Clijsters has a chance to return to world number one, two years after her long break to have a baby, if she wins here and top seed Caroline Wozniacki falls before the semis.
Both Soderling and Murray, the world number four and five, made it into the second week without dropping a set as they steamed towards a possible quarterfinal showdown.
Murray, last year's beaten finalist, dismissed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, as he seeks Britain's first Grand Slam title in 75 years.
Murray, 23, will play either 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis or Jurgen Melzer in the next round and may then face a date with in-form Swede Soderling, who cruised through 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 against Jan Hernych.
Milos Raonic, the 20-year-old Canadian with the thunderous serve, shocked 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny to reach the fourth round on debut, and register his first win against a top-10 player.
Croatia's Marin Cilic outlasted fellow five-set specialist John Isner, who played tennis's longest match at Wimbledon last year, 4-6, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, 9-7 in 4hr 33min.
Meanwhile, Russia's Zvonareva, who could also finish this tournament as world number one, survived a Lucie Safarova fightback to stay on course for her third successive Grand Slam final.
Zvonareva looked set for an easy win until she tightened up and needed two match points in a tense tie-break before going through 6-3, 7-6 thanks to a forehand error from the Czech.
China's Peng Shuai beat Japan's Ayumi Morita to join compatriot Li Na in the fourth round, stoking hopes they can match Li and Zheng Jie's run to last year's semis. Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska also beat Romanian Simona Halep.
But Czech player Petra Kvitova doused local hopes when she knocked out below-par French Open finalist Samantha Stosur, the fifth seed, 7-6, 6-3.