Melbourne: Maria Sharapova and men's second seed Andy Roddick pressed all the right buttons to motor comfortably into the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Justine Henin-Hardenne, seeded eight and David Nalbandian, the fourth seed also went through to the next round.
Sharapova is coming good at the right time, seemingly untroubled by the blisters that hobbled her in the second round and the dislocated rib that threatened her participation.
On another day of scorching temperatures that caused play on outside courts to be suspended, the glamorous 18-year-old kept her poise to overcome the 71st-ranked Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-0, 6-1.
"It was the first day that it's been really hot like this, it's good to get through these kind of matches," said the fourth seed, adding that "I had to be extra patient."
Roddick was equally impressive in his 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 romp over French qualifier Julien Benneteau, to set up a showdown with unseeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who outclassed Denis Gremelmayr of Germany.
The A-Rod has yet to fulfill his promise as America's next big Grand Slam hope after Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras and is eyeing a final against Roger Federer.
"I feel like I'm hitting the ball well, I feel like I'm moving well," said Roddick. "I just want to keep getting through the rounds."
But world No 1 Davenport veered off course and dropped a set against Maria Kirilenko, seeded 25, before steering herself back into contention for a title she won in 2000.
As happened in her second round match, the American 29-year-old served up an uncharacteristic number of unforced errors, 42, but still came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
"In the second set I really just fell apart with making way too many errors," she said.
"I do feel in the third set I really was able to turn it around and play really well. I'm happy I ended the match on a positive note," she added.
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Elsewhere, sixth seed Nadia Petrova joined Sharapova in leading a Russian women's charge into the fourth round, hitting the spot with a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory over Maria Elena Camerin of Italy.
The Russian chage in the women's section continued with four out five going through to the next round, including Elena Vesnina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion who beat Maria Santangelo of Italy with Kirilenko being the lone casualty.
Petrova will next play Vesnina, who took care of Olga Savchuk of Ukraine while Kuznetsova will play Davenport.
Henin-Hardenne, the winner in Sydney last week, made light work of Virginie Razzano of France, teeing herself up for a fourth round encounter against Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Nalbandian of Argentina kept his dream alive with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
Elsewhere, Spanish 11th seed David Ferrer had a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 workout against Mario Ancic, the 18th seeded Croat, and next plays Fabrice Santoro of France, who beat eighth seed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina.
Seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia outclassed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in straight sets and plays 10th seed Thomas Johansson next.
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