Paes-Raymond packed off in first round

Paes-Raymond packed off in first round
AGENCIES

MELBOURNE, JANUARY 22: Indian ace Leander Paes' Australian Open campaign ended on a disappointing note on Saturday when he and his American partner Lisa Raymond were stunned in the first round of the mixed doubles here.

The Wimbledon champions, seeded second here, were eliminated by South African David Adams and Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 at the Melbourne Park here.

This ended Paes' campaign in the first Grand Slam of the year. Paes fell to Swede Andreas Vinceiguerra 6-7 (3-7) 4-6 3-6 in the singles, after making the main draw by coming through the qualifiers. The Indian, ranked No 1 in the doubles, lost in the first round of the doubles with Canadian Sebastian Lareau. The top-seeded Paes-Lareau crashed out to Americans Geoff Grant and Jack Waite, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 5-7.

Defending champions Martina Hingis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov swept into the fourth round.

Hingis, the top seed from Switzerland, beat Australian Alicia Molik 6-2, 6-3 and next plays French 12th seed Sandrine Testud, who fought back from three match points down to beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Kafelnikov, the Russian second seed, beat Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 and will face Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus in the fourth round.Kafelnikov's only serious threat in his half of the men's draw are 18-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt, on a roll after his tournament wins in Adelaide and Sydney, and German fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer.

Kiefer advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Moroccan Karim Alami.

RESULTS

Men's singles (3rd round): 1-Andre Agassi (US) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, 2-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-3 6-3 6-4, 4-Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Karim Alami (Mor) 6-3 6-4 6-2, 12-Magnus Norman (Swe) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 6-4 6-4 7-6 (10-8); Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Roger Federer (Swi) 6-1 6-4 6-3, Christophe Rochus (Bel) bt Max Mirnyi (Bel) 3-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-2), Wayne Ferreira (RSA) leads Francisco Clavet (Spa) 6-3 6-4 3-6 rain stopped play, Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) vs Younes El Aynaoui (Mor) 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 2-2 rain stopped play.

Men's doubles (2nd round): 4-Jared Palmer/Alex O'Brien (US) bt Thonas Shimada (Jap)/Myles Wakefield (RSA) 6-3 6-4, 8-Wayne Black (Zim)/Andrew Kratzmann (Aus) bt Michael Hill (Aus)/Marcos Ondruska (RSA) 1-6 7-5 6-3.

Women's singles (3rd round): 1-Martina Hingis (Swi) bt Alicia Molik (Aus) 6-2 6-3, 2-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Alina Jidkova (Rus) 6-0, 6-1, 3-Serena Williams (US) bt Sabine Appelmans (Bel) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-Barbara Schett (Aut) bt Florencia Labat (Arg) 6-1 6-3, 12-Sandrine Testud (Fra) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 4-6 7-5 6-2, 16-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Els Callens (Bel) 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. 2nd round: 13-Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) bt Bryanne Stewart (Aus) 7-5 6-1, 10-Conchita Martinez (Spa) bt Jelena Kostanic (Cro) 6-4 6-4, 16-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Els Callens (Bel) 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Women's doubles (2nd round): 2-Lindsay Davenport/Corina Marariu (US) bt Asa Carlsson (Swe)/Emilie Loit (Fra) 6-1 6-0, 3-Martina Hingis (Swi)/Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Meghann Shaughnessy/Linda Wild (US) 6-3 6-2, 10-Julie Halard-Decugis (Fra)/Ai Sugiyama (Jap) bt Surina de Beer (RSA)/Jana Kandarr (Ger) 2-6 1-0 retired, Sonya Jeyaseelan (Can)/Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt 14-Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa)/Paola Suarez (Arg) 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-3.

Mixed doubles (1st round): 1-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe)/Anna Kournikova (Rus) leads Sebastian Prieto/Patricia Tarabini (Arg) 5-3, David Adams (RSA)/Kristie Boogert (Ned) bt 2-Leander Paes/Lisa Raymond (US) 7-6 (9-7) 6-2, 4-Todd Woodbridge (Aus)-Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) bt Martin Damm (Czech)-Barbara Rittner (Ger) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-Jeff Tarango (US)-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Ellis Ferreira (RSA)-Kristine Kunce (Aus) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2, 8-Andrei Olhovskiy (Rus)/Elena Tatarkova (Ukr) bt Piet Norbal (RSA)/Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 6-4 6-4.