Kim Clijsters routs former No 1 Dinara Safina

Kim Clijsters crushed fellow former world number one Dinara Safina in an embarrassingly one-sided first-round meeting at the Australian Open today.

The third-seeded Belgian needed just 44 minutes to claim a 6-0 6-0 victory over the out-of-sorts Russian on Rod Lever Arena.

Both players are former finalists in Melbourne and, even though Safina has since slipped to 75th in the rankings, Clijsters could scarcely have hoped for an easier match.

Safina won just 38% of points on her first serve and only 8% on her second, winning a mere 16 points in the whole contest.

Clijsters raced through the first set in 20 minutes and was equally ruthless in the second, her opponent cutting a disconsolate figure by the time she dumped a forehand into the net to hand the Belgian her sixth break of serve and victory.