27 January 2004	Tuesday	04 Zilhaj 1424

MELBOURNE, Jan 26: The Australia Day fireworks fizzed and died on Monday as local favourites Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis were brought to their knees in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Hewitt's dreams were shredded 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-4 by an inspired Roger Federer and Philippoussis's game was cut to ribbons by the rapier-like groundstrokes of Morocco's Hicham Arazi.

Arazi's 6-2 6-2 6-4 upset of 10th seed Philippoussis was an unpalatable appetiser for an Australian crowd hoping to celebrate their annual national holiday in style.

Fans had been given some small cheer when Hewitt's fiance Kim Clijsters, dubbed 'Aussie Kim' by the locals, earlier raced into the quarter-finals. The Belgian second seed stayed on track for her first grand slam title, beating Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 6-3 6-3. She will next play self-confessed tennis bad girl Anastasia Myskina after the Russian beat ninth seed Chanda Rubin 6-7 6-2 6-2.

But as dusk fell, with fireworks being let off outside Melbourne Park, second seed Federer set about lighting up centre court. The Wimbledon champion was simply irresistible, hitting clean winners from the back, serving with great accuracy and power and sweeping the tenacious Hewitt from side to side.

The three-sets-to-one scoreline hardly did his superiority justice. Hewitt won the first set by breaking Federer in the opening game. From that point on there was only going to be one winner.

Federer had lost eight of the 10 previous encounters between the pair but under the stars in front of a packed centre court crowd, the 22-year-old Swiss was a class apart.

The last time the two players met, Hewitt came back from two sets down to win in the Davis Cup semi-finals last year. Federer, who is in the quarter-finals here for the first time, will meet Argentine eighth seed David Nalbandian for a place in the semis.

Nalbandian beat fellow Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-4 6-2 6-1. Philippoussis also came up against an opponent who was simply too good. Unseeded Arazi will meet Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals. The third seed ousted Romania's Andrei Pavel 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Philippoussis had looked lost on centre court. The defeat was a bitter blow to the 27-year-old who has never made it past the fourth round here since his debut in 1994.

French schoolgirl Tatiana Golovin's amazing run at the first grand slam of the year came to an end. The 16-year-old was thrashed 6-2 6-0 by American doubles specialist Lisa Raymond, conqueror of Venus Williams in the previous round.

Clijsters has conceded just 14 games in her four matches so far and remains well on track for her first major title after reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne the past two years.

She has lost in the final of three grand slams - the 2001 French Open and the French and U.S. Opens last year. Clijsters can expect to be tested a little more in the next round when she runs into Myskina.

Results (men's singles):

Fourth round: 2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 15-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-4; Hicham Arazi (Morocco) beat 10-Mark Philippoussis (Australia) 6-2 6-2 6-4; 3-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2; 8-David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-4 6-2 6-1

Women's singles:

Fourth round: 22-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat 29-Nathalie Dechy (France) 6-2 6-4; 2-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat 20-Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 6-3 6-3; 6-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) beat 9-Chanda Rubin (U.S.) 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-2; 25-Lisa Raymond (U.S.) beat Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-2 6-0-Reuters