Martina Navratilova was predictably swamped by the sheer power of the Williams sisters in a third round doubles match at the Australian Open.

The 46-year-old winner of an extraordinary 167 singles and 167 doubles titles failed to hold serve once as she and rising Russian star Svetlana Kuznetsova were beaten 6-2 6-3.

That was now. But back when she was the most successful player ever to grace a tennis court, Navratilova reckons she could have handled the power of the world's top two players.

"Pace doesn't bother me, it's getting to the ball," she said.

"If I get my racquet on it, I can handle it.

" ... I think with my game, hitting the slice serve and the slice backhand, it would have been all right.

"You have to be fast to be able to keep up with them, but if you have the legs and the variety of shots, you can do OK.

"I think we would have had some fun matches."

It didn't look that much fun today.

There were murmurs of discontent when Serena and Venus Williams were handed the No.1 seeding for the women's doubles for Melbourne, as they had barely played together last year.

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