They presumably are working their way to each other, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, a pair of Belgian women who know each other well.

Clijsters did her part to keep the appointment in the quarter finals, dusting Tamarine Tanasugarn  6-3, 6-3  in the second round of the Australian Open here Wednesday.

In fact, it’s hard to see the No. 15-ranked Clijsters missing it. She’s won 20 times against just three losses since returning last summer from a two year self-imposed exile where she married and became a mother. Most impressive among those occurred last summer at Flushing Meadows when Clijsters rolled to a U.S. Open championship in storybook fashion.

It was only her third tournament back from retirement, and she became the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong Cawley at Wimbledon in 1980. Clijsters likes her chances to perhaps capture her third grand slam title here. Earlier this month in a battle of former No. 1-ranked women, she turned back Henin in the finals of the Brisbane International in what was Henin’s comeback tournament after nearly two years off the tour.

Henin will be tested again later Wednesday by Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in one of the most eagerly anticipated second round match-ups here. Clijsters believes if Henin gets by Dementieva she will benefit from a tough opponent as she did off of their Brisbane match.

Against Henin and throughout her time in Brisbane, Clijsters was reassured that she had extra gears and a reservoir of grit to call on in big tournaments.

“You know, I won my matches not always conveniently, but good enough,” said Clijsters, 26, who has reached the semifinals or better in her last four trips to Melbourne Park and lost the 2004 final to Henin. “Played a three-set match there. I was not always playing my best, was a little bit inconsistent.”

“When I had to play well against Justine, I was able to really like raise my level,” she said. “That’s something that obviously after having been off for a long time, it takes time to get that, to have that routine of knowing how to react in those kind of situations.”

On the men’s side it was a routine day of big names thumping lesser players as defending champ Rafael Nadal capitalized on five of his first six breakpoints to bounce Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in straight sets — 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Andy Roddick, the world’s No. 7, did not trifle with Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, pounding him 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The 2007 runner up here, No. 11 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, took care of business as well dispatching Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Another contender among the women, Svetlana Kuznetsova, looked impressive as she advanced to the third round over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets. Kuznetsova, has won two French Opens, and can supplant Serena Williams as the world’s No. 1 by winning here.

She says she is a much more confident and determined player than she was last year when she lost to Williams in the quarterfinals after being up a set and a break.

“Yes, definitely, I know all the way how to go — I’ve done it twice,” said Kuznetsova, 24, who won last year’s French Open in Paris. “It’s exciting. You always have different motivation at the Grand Slams. I love to play here.”

For Henin, 27, the Australian Open has conjured frustration as well as elation in the past. She beat Clijsters here for the 2004 championship. In the 2006 final, she retired in the second set against Amélie Mauresmo because of stomach cramps. She withdrew from the 2007 Open when she was going through a divorce. The 2008 Open was her last Grand Slam event before she suddenly retired in May of that year as the world’s top-ranked player.

She is managing her own expectations and has acknowledged it would take an extraordinary run to capture here eighth grand slam title.

“I’ll need the patience in the next few weeks, few tournaments to really feel at my level and keep the intensity,” Henin said. “That’s the hardest thing, is to keep always the concentration, the intensity very high. So it’s going to be probably the hardest for me in the next future, next tournaments.”

Still, she is glad to be back.

“The good thing is that I don’t feel old yet,” said Henin. “Even if when I came here I realized it was six years ago I won the Australian Open, so it did hit me a little bit. Physically and mentally, I don’t feel like I’m part of the old generation, so that’s good. But, of course get better is something that not only in my tennis, but in my life. I think it’s the goal of everyone, is to get better every day.”

Clijsters, too, is trying to take her return to the elite of women’s tennis one match at a time. Yes, she understands that she is a worthy favorite to win the tournament, but that alone does not fast track her to her the finals and a showdown with Serena Williams.

“My attitude doesn’t change because now I’m seen as one of the favorites,” she said. “To me, that doesn’t mean anything.”