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| January 22, 2007 | Monday | Muharram 02, 1428 |
Mauresmo and Russians crash on day of upsets
MELBOURNE, Jan 21: A shell-shocked Amelie Mauresmo had the Australian Open trophy ripped from her grasp on Sunday by a teenage upstart who had won only one grand slam match before arriving at Melbourne Park.
On a day when Russian seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina were also hustled out, Lucie Safarova played the match of her life to shatter Mauresmo's title hopes in the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-3 win.
As the 19-year-old Czech sealed the defending champion's fate after 89 minutes and held her arms aloft to lap up the applause from the hollering fans, a forlorn Mauresmo was left to digest her worst showing in Australia since losing in the fourth round in 2001.
Shahar Peer continued a day of upsets by becoming the first Israeli woman to reach the quarter-finals of a grand slam when she humbled third seed Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2.
Seventh seed Dementieva's fragile serve was once again exposed during a 6-3, 6-3 defeat by Czech Nicole Vaidisova, who at 10th is now the highest seed left in the bottom half of the draw.
Serena Williams lived up to her status as a dangerous floater as she claimed the scalp of in-form 11th seed Jelena Jankovic with a 6-3, 6-2 hammering.
In the Czech camp, a triple celebration was being planned for Sunday night after Safarova's boyfriend, 13th seed Tomas Berdych, demolished Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the last 16.
The youthful exuberance of Serbian tyro Novak Djokovic proved no match for the touch and finesse of Roger Federer.
The men's champion never allowed the hyped contest to get out of hand and rolled over the 19-year-old 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in the fourth round.
Federer's potential semi-final opponent, sixth seed Andy Roddick, ensured coach Jimmy Connors would not have to endure a wasted trip by overcoming the firepower of big-serving Croatian Mario Ancic 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
But the day belonged to Safarova.
For a woman ranked 70th
in the world who had never
before experienced the imposing surroundings of the Rod Laver Arena, Safarova initially seemed overawed and pre-
dictably fell 4-1 behind to Mauresmo.
With the first set nearly in her grasp, the second seed imploded and lost seven successive games as the left-handed Safarova sprayed a non-stop array of winners from the baseline.
The second set was almost a mirror image of the first, except it was Safarova who galloped to a 4-1 lead as Mauresmo struggled to stem the flow of errors flying off her racket.
Although Mauresmo claimed back one break, it was not enough to deny Safarova victory.
Kuznetsova had been in a three-way tussle with Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova to wrest the world No 1 ranking from Justine Henin-Hardenne at the end of the tournament.
But like Mauresmo, Kusnetsova's chances of climbing to the top ended unceremoniously.
The Russian smacked a forehand into the net to end a 77-minute ordeal on Vodafone Arena, leaving a jubilant Peer to exchange high-fives with her support team.
Li Na's record-breaking run on the tennis circuit continued when she became the first Chinese player to reach the fourth round of the singles draw at Melbourne Park.
A quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, Li completed a terrible day for the Russians when she upstaged ninth seed Safina 6-2, 6-2 and will next run into three-time former champion Martina Hingis.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Men’s singles:
Fourth round: 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 14-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 6-2, 7-5, 6-3; 7-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat 18-Richard Gasquet (France) 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; 6-Andy Roddick (US) beat 9-Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4; Mardy Fish (US) beat 16-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 7-5.
Third round: 12-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-3; 13-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 6-2, 6-1, 6-1.
Women’s singles:
Fourth round: Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat 2-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 6-4, 6-3; 16-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-4, 6-2; 10-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) beat 7-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 6-3, 6-3; Serena Williams (US) beat 11-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-2.
Third round: 19-Li Na (China) beat 9-Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-2, 6-2; 12-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Croatia) 6-4, 6-4; 15-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Ashley Harkleroad (US) 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-3.—Agencies
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