PERTH (Australia), Dec 30: Serena Williams cleared away holiday cobwebs but Kim Clijsters tore through the Hopman Cup as Group A of the ITF mixed team competition got underway on Monday.

Making her debut at the Burswood Dome, world number one Williams did just enough to beat Uzbek Iroda Tulyaganova 6-3 6-2 but looked far from her powerful top form on the indoor court.

James Blake was also far from his best when he later gave the top-seeded United States an unassailable 2-0 lead in the round robin match, struggling past Oleg Ogorodov 2-6 7-5 6-1 in the men’s singles.

Clijsters, though, showed the scintillating form that saw her beat Williams in the final of the season-ending WTA Championships last month.

The Belgian swatted Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1 6-0 in just 44 minutes before carrying Xavier Malisse through the decisive mixed doubles as Belgium beat holders Spain 2-1.

The world number four rallied an under-par Malisse throughout the Group A doubles match and the pair scraped it 2-6 7-5 10-7 on a super tiebreak after Malisse had earlier been beaten by Tommy Robredo 7-6 3-6 6-3.

Champions Spain had looked favourites to win the round robin encounter when they led by a set and 4-2 in the mixed, but Clijsters had other ideas and almost single-handedly carried Belgium through.

Any thoughts that Clijsters might be resting on her laurels following her spectacular WTA Championships success last month had earlier been banished in 13 razor-sharp games during her singles match.

She capped 2002 with the women’s season-ending championships in Los Angeles in November but instead of revelling in that success, the 19-year-old has been working out harder than ever.

Clijsters said she hoped she now had the magic formula to beat the powerful Williamses — ranked one and two in the world. She will get another chance to beat Serena on Friday when the pair clash in the final Group A match.

Serena will be tough to topple, though. She has already declared her intention to go through 2003 undefeated.

The French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion sets her sights on what she calls a “Serena Slam” at the Australian Open in two weeks and on Monday did enough to get her season off to a winning start.

Making her debut in the A$1 million ($560,900) competition, the runaway world number one’s victory eased the U.S. into a 1-0 lead over qualifiers Uzbekistan in the Group A clash.

James Blake lines up opposite Oleg Ogorodov in the men’s singles later on Monday before the mixed doubles.

She won eight of the 13 tournaments she entered in the 2002 season, beating sister Venus in the last three grand slam finals.

But the 21-year-old could well afford to allow the Uzbek a little seasonal charity and still rack up an easy victory in 56 minutes.

RESULTS: (Group A)