Henin-Hardenne, the fifth seed, who was also the 2003 champion, eased past Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-4, 6-0, while Myskina, the 10th seeded Russian, was equally impressive beating Serbian 19th seed Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-3.

In the men's third round, Australian 14th seed Lleyton Hewitt enjoyed a comfortable 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 over Slovakian 22nd seed Dominik Hrbaty and now faces either defending champion Rafael Nadal or Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Czech 11th seed Radek Stepanek, however, was beaten by France's Julien Benneteau 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 6-3. Benneteau will face either Spain's Alberto Martin or Belgian 27th seed Olivier Rochus for a quarterfinal place.

Victory was particularly sweet for Henin-Hardenne.

It was Garbin who beat her in 2004 to condemn her to the unwanted position of being the first top seed to be beaten so early in the tournament since seeding was introduced here in 1925.

"I try not to think about what happened two years ago," said Henin-Hardenne.

"I wasn't in good shape then. But I did think about what happened a little bit today espcially when I was 4-3 down in the first set."

Myskina too would have been happy to make the fourth round.

She was beaten in the first round here in 2005 to become the first defending champion to fall at that stage in the history of the tournament.

Myskina admitted that she will have to up the tempo in her fourth round clash against Henin-Hardenne against whom she has won just twice in eight meetings.

"It will be really tough and I will have to play better if I am to beat her."

Kim Clijsters, the Belgian women's second seed, brushed past Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4 and now faces Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova for a place in the quarterfinals.

The Slovakian 15th seed won a marathon encounter with French player Nathalie Dechy 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.

Martina Hingis is up against Croatia's Ivana Lisjak with the winner facing Israel's Shahar Peer who knocked out Russian sixth seed Elena Dementieva.