Ruthless Hingis underlines title hopes

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) Martina Hingis continued to slice through the draw as she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open with a ruthless 6-2 6-1 demolition of Japan's Aiko Nakamura today.

The Swiss sixth seed has now lost only nine games at this year's event as she heads for a potential quarter-final showdown against Belgian Kim Clijsters for the second successive year.

Nakamura matched her best grand slam result to date by reaching the third round at Melbourne Park, but simply did not possess the weapons to hurt an opponent who already holds three Australian Open titles.

Hingis fired an unreturnable serve to secure victory and will next run into either ninth seed Dinara Safina or China's Li Na, the last Asian left in either singles draws.

Despite being cheered on by fiance Radek Stepanek, Hingis admitted the subdued atmosphere in Rod Laver Arena contributed to the lack of spark in the contest.

''It was just a very strange feeling to be out there today.

I guess it was very hot for the people, for the fans as well,'' said Hingis referring to the match being played under a closed roof due to persistent rain.

''The atmosphere was a little different from usual excitement, what you expect here.

''There (was a lack of) energy to keep you going, to keep motivating yourself.

''Today there were a lot of unforced errors. I think the crowd sometimes didn't really have that much to clap for.'' REUTERS PM DS1041