Sharapova sharp in rout, Roddick through

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) Maria Sharapova needed only 51 minutes to overwhelm Australian Casey Dellacqua in the second roundof the US Open, serving notice that she is focused, in-form, and determined to defend her title.

The second-seeded Sharapova yesterday hit 30 winners while yielding only two to her bewildered opponent during the 6-1 6-0 rout.

On the men's side, fifth seed Andy Roddick advanced to the third round when his Argentine opponent Jose Acasuso retired with a left knee injury at the end of the third set.

''I think she'll most definitely go all the way,'' said the 90th-ranked Dellacqua, shellshocked from Sharapova's driving groundstrokes. ''If she plays like that consistently, she's going to be hard to beat.'' Sharapova, who landed 78 percent of her first serves and won 52 of the match's 75 points, understated her performance before a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium.

''I thought I did a pretty good job of being solid,'' she said.

''It's only going to get tougher from here.'' Most of the favourites breezed through on a sunny day and a cool evening at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows.

Roddick said he was just glad to advance.

''It's not the way you want to get through but at the beginning of the day all you want to do is get through to the third round,'' admitted Roddick, who was leading 4-6 6-1 6-2 when Acasuso left the court.

Winners included fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Czech ninth seed Tomas Berdych and 19th seed Andy Murray of Britain.

Richard Gasquet was the first casualty of the day when the French 13th seed pulled out with a fever. The withdrawal handed American wildcard Donald Young a walkover into the third round.

On the women's side, 16th seed Martina Hingis sliced, lobbed and chipped her way to a 6-2 7-5 win over Pauline Parmentier while fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova employed power tennis in a 6-3 4-6 6-0 victory over Camille Pin.

''You try to mix it up, to give the opponent a different look every time,'' said Hingis, who won the tournament a decade ago. ''I think the crowd enjoyed it, too.'' Kuznetsova, the 2004 champion, had 46-6 edge in winners over her French opponent and a 34-9 advantage in unforced errors.

''I missed so many of my chances,'' she told reporters. ''I've been missing so much. I was not moving my feet. But still I knew I was comfortable. I'll get it all together.'' Sharapova's competition in the tournament will certainly get stronger but the Russian pin-up was particularly sharp against Dellacqua.

She won 14 of her 17 forays to the net and never lost her serve.

''She played extremely well,'' said Dellacqua. ''I felt like I was on the back foot every point. If she got a first serve in, I was completely out of the point.

''She didn't give me a thing. I didn't get a free point. She is really focused out there.'' REUTERS SSC SSC1054