January 24, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 23, 1426

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MELBOURNE, Jan 23: Roger Federer survived a serious scare at the Australian Open, beating former second-ranked Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 Monday to reach the quarterfinals.

Federer, who hadn’t dropped a set, appeared to be in top form and cruising to an easy victory when he ran into a rash of mistakes at the same time that Haas stepped up his game.

Federer had 58 unforced errors, 11 more than in his first three matches combined. But he compensated with 66 winners.

As he has so often, top-ranked Federer found his range again when he needed it most.

With Haas serving at 2-3 in the final set, Federer hit a shot deep to his forehand on break point that the German whacked down the line. It was called out.

The umpire refused to overrule when Haas questioned whether the ball was in. TV replays backed the linesman.

Federer held at love, then broke Haas for the sixth time when the German whacked a forehand long on match point.

While appreciative of Federer’s racket artistry, many in the crowd sided with the underdog Haas, a semifinalist here in 1999 and 2002 who reached No. 2 in the rankings before sitting out 2003 with two operations on his right shoulder.

Federer, who has a 6-0 career record against his next opponent, fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, took advantage of Haas’ only lapse in the first set. Serving at 2-2, Haas sent three forehands long to give Federer the only break he needed.

Federer finished off the set with a pair of service winners sandwiched around his first ace. It started a streak of seven straight games for Federer, seeking his seventh Grand Slam title and second here.

Haas rallied, breaking Federer once each in the third and fourth sets to level the match. Then Federer pulled himself together to finish off the challenge.

Proving that power isn’t everything, Martina Hingis earlier took another step on the comeback trail, beating Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-1, 7-6 (8) to reach the women’s quarters.

Hingis, coming out of retirement after three years, showed the same savvy that she used to win five Grand Slam titles.

The 25-year-old Swiss star next faces her biggest challenge so far against second-seeded Kim Clijsters, who has spent nearly all of her off-court time getting worked on by the trainers.

Hingis blunted Stosur’s strong ground strokes with an often-stunning blend of perfectly placed baseline shots, crisp volleys and soft drops that had the Australian dashing to the net for a pickup only to see the next shot lobbing over her head.

Stosur, ranked 98th, seemed almost on the verge of tears in the first set, giving the partisan crowd little to cheer about.

Hingis ran off the last five games of the first set. But the second set was tougher, with the two women trading breaks four times. Hingis, a three-time Australian Open champion, had chances to serve for the match at 5-4 and 6-5.

Stosur broke both times and pulled ahead 5-2 in the tiebreaker before Hingis ran off four straight points. Stosur fended off the first match point with a 33-shot rally and saved two more before netting a forehand on the fourth.

Clijsters showed no signs of the back and hip pain that has bothered her for the last week as she beat 15th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Davydenko rallied from two sets and a break down to snap Dominik Hrbaty’s run of five-set wins with a 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Hrbaty spent a total of 13 hours and 57 minutes on court in four matches. The No. 12 seed from Slovakia was only the fourth man to play four consecutive five-set matches at one Grand Slam tournament. American Robby Ginepri was the most recent at last year’s U.S. Open.

No. 21 Nicolas Kiefer beat Juan Ignacio Chela, who had ousted third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the second round. He next plays No. 25 Sebastien Grosjean, who defeated fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

WTA Championship winner Amelie Mauresmo committed only two unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 16-year-old Nicole Vaidisova. She next plays Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder, who beat 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina.

Results

Women’s singles (fourth round): Amelie Mauresmo bt Nicole Vaidisova 6-1, 6-1; Patty Schnyder bt Anastasia Myskina 6-2, 6-1; Kim Clijsters bt Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Martina Hingis bt Samantha Stosur 6-1, 7-6 (10/8)

Men’s singles (fourth round): Nicolas Kiefer bt Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko bt Dominik Hrbaty 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; Sebastien Grosjean bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-2, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.—Agencies