MELBOURNE, JANUARY 20: A lone Moroccan flag flew proudly over Melbourne Park on Thursday, after Younes El Aynaoui upset German power-hitter Tommy Haas in the second round of the Australian Open.Haas, seeded 10th after reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne last year, was expected to make good progress again this year, but was shocked 7-5 6-3 6-3 by the little-known Moroccan.Nicolas Lapentti later became the ninth seeded male to head for the exit in the first four days of the season-opening Grand Slam tournament, when he withdrew ill from his match against Frenchman Arnaud Clement.US Open champion Serena Williams however showed few signs of the back strain which troubled her in the opening round, when she disposed of Australian Nicole Pratt 7-5, 6-1.The women's draw lost eighth seed Amanda Coetzer, but it was 28-year-old El Aynaoui's triumph over one of the game's bright young stars which captured the imagination.El Aynaoui, sponsorless on a tennis tour awash with branding, blasted the normallypowerful Haas off the court to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time.``Maybe sometimes they have an easy life and I went through the tough way,'' El Aynaoui said of his young opponents.``That gives me much more character and much more motivation.'' El Aynaoui said he had never had a coach as a child and that he had dreamed of playing professional tennis, even though his parents had tried to talk him out of it.``In Morocco, nobody has played professional tennis before I did, so it was a little bit strange,'' said El Aynaoui, who ended 1999 ranked a career-high 34th in the world. ``They were not very happy about that but now they understand that's what I want to do.''The free-hitting Moroccan consistently out-served world number 11 Haas and refused to play conservatively even when he served for the match in the ninth game of the third set.Haas racked up three break points before El Aynaoui fought back to deuce and then took the match as he rushed the net on hisfirst match point. He then turned and waved excitedly to a small band of supporters in the grandstand, where a lone Moroccan flag was waved proudly in salute.Defending champion and second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov in contrast, crushed former doubles partner Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in a clinical display. Kafelnikov only played one seed on the way to last year's title and the loss of Haas and Lapentti now means he can reach the semi-finals without facing another seed.- (Reuters)
