Jennifer Capriati made light work of Spain's Magui Serna at the U.S. Open on Wednesday as she opened the night session on the Arthur Ashe Court with a commanding 6-0, 6-2 second round victory.

The eighth seed, who has never made the final of her home Grand Slam in 12 previous attempts, needed just 52 minutes to book her place in the third round.

Her emphatic performance came in stark contrast to her stuttering first round match against Czech Denisa Chladkova, when she looked badly out of sorts before coming back to win in three sets.

"The first round was a bit of nerves and also her (Chladkova) playing well," the 28-year-old said.

"Tonight I was a bit more into it and I was able to iron out the kinks.

"I knew Serna can be tricky so I was a more concentrated.

"In some ways, the first match helped me a bit because I was out there for a while and I got into a rhythm and I managed to keep that going into tonight."

Serna, ranked 77th in the world, had no answer to Capriati's superior firepower, losing the first set in 18 minutes.

The American seemed anxious to get off court as soon as possible and a few errors crept into her game in the second set, but she finished it off in style with an angled backhand winner.

Capriati is seeded to meet Serena Williams in the quarter-finals but said she was looking no further ahead than third-round opponent Vera Douchevina of Russia.