Rafter, Rusedski exit

MELBOURNE, Jan 24: US open champion Patrick Rafter lost the sharp edge on his serve and volley game at crucial moments and fell to tenacious...

MELBOURNE, Jan 24: US open champion Patrick Rafter lost the sharp edge on his serve and volley game at crucial moments and fell to tenacious baseliner Alberto Berasategui in the third round of the Australian Open today.

US Open runner-up Greg Rusedski also went out, losing to Australian Todd Woodbridge, leaving only four of the 16 men8217;s seeds surviving going into the round of 16.

Rafter looked in control after a service break in the second set8217;s first game, but lost the break and then let three set points slip away in the tie-break on his way to losing 6-7 2-7, 7-6 9-7, 6-2, 7-6 7-4.

The last set was his eighth tie-break in three matches that kept him on court a total of nearly 10 hours. His first two opponents, Jeff Tarango and Todd Martin, both had predicted he might burn out.

The result spoiled a rematch between Rafter and Andre Agassi, one of his victims at the US Open.

Berasategui, who nearly camped in his backhand corner and hammered forehands in all directions, gained back the second-set break in the eighth game with help from two Rafter double faults.

Rafter gained two set points at 6-4 in the tie-break when Berasategui hit a forehand long after Rafter had fallen while lunging to make a crosscourt volley.

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But Rafter lost those and one later, either by missing volleys or failing to put them away.

Berasategui broke for 5-4 in the final set, was broken back, and wrapped up the nearly three-hour match with a lob right on the baseline and more misses by Rafter, who had 77 unforced errors to 46 by Berasategui.

Berasategui now plays Agassi, who, he acknowledged won8217;t make him to play the same type of game.

Agassi attack: Agassi completed a no-nonsense 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 win over Gaudenzi in just 67 minutes on Centre Court. The American came into the match with four previous wins over the 61st-ranked Gaudenzi.

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Agassi, the Australian Open champion in 1995, was back at his best, returning serve almost on the half-volley and firing of winners from the back of the court and the net.

While his less experienced opponent struggled, 27-year-old American looked much closer to the game8217;s summit than he did last year, when he slid to a lowly ranking of 122.

Rusedski fell 7-6 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 to Woodbridge, a semifinalist last year at Wimbledon, where he beat Michael Chang and Patrick Rafter. Woodbridge returned doggedly against the big-serving No 5 seed, and waited for his chances.

Among the seeds, that left only No 1 Pete Sampras, No 4 Jonas Bjorkman, No 6 Petr Korda and No 9 Marcelo Rios in the fourth round.

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Hingis8217; lesson for pretender: World number one Martina Hingis fought of a strong challenge from Russian pretender Anna Kournikova as Indonesia8217;s Yayuk Basuki led an Asian charge into the fourth round.

Basuki upset 14th seed Dominique Van Roost of Belgium 6-4 6-4 to join Japan8217;s Ai Sugiyama and Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn in the final 16.

Asia last had three players in a Grand Slam fourth round when the Japanese trio of Sugiyama, Kimiko Date and Kyoko Nagatsuka made it at the 1995 French Open.

It was Hingis and Kournikova who were the centre of attention in a promoter8217;s dream, the teenage pair packing Centre Court with hundreds of screaming young and not-so-young fans.

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Defending champion Hingis, at 17 a year older than Kournikova, prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a battle sure to be repeated many times in coming years.

Hingis fought the talented Russian for 98 minutes before closing out the match with a decisive smash.

The Swiss teenager started confidently but Kournikova, always strong on the big points, broke her Swiss opponent8217;s serve at 5-4 in the second set to force the match into a third-set decider.

The pair traded service breaks through much of the final set before Hingis broke decisively in the ninth game and served out for the match.

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It was the first time that Hingis 8212; who last year became the youngest Grand Slam champion in more than a century 8212; had dropped a set at Melbourne Park since she lost to Amanda Coetzer in the quarterfinals two years ago.

Results

Men8217;s third round prefix denotes seeding

Todd Woodbridge Aus bt 5-Greg Rusedski Bri 7-6 7-5, 6-4, 6-2; Lionel Roux Fra bt Karim Alami Mor 7-6 7-2, 6-2, 6-4; Guillaume Raoux Fra bt Wayne Black Zim 6-3, 6-2, 7-5; Nicolas Escude Fra bt Richey Reneberg US 1-6, 6-7 0-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4; Andre Agassi US bt Andrea Gaudenzi Ita 6-2, 6-2, 6-0; 9-Marcelo Rios Chile bt Andrew Ilie Aus 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Women8217;s third round

3-Amanda Coetzer SA bt Annabel Ellwood Aus 6-3, 6-1; Yayuk Basuki Ind bt 14-Dominique Van Roost Bel 6-4, 6-4; 10-Anke Huber Ger bt Joannette Kruger SA 6-7 4-7, 6-3, 6-2; 1-Martina Hingis Switzerland bt Anna Kournikova Rus 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 5-Mary Pierce Fra bt Olga Barabanschikova Belarus 7-5, 6-3; 16-Ai Sugiyama Jap bt Magadalena Grzybowska Pol 7-6 7-5, 1-6, 6-4; Henrieta Nagyova Slovakia bt Elena Likhovtseva Rus 6-7 7-1, 7-5, 6-2; 7-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario Spa bt Rika Hiraki Jap 6-2, 6-3.