Nothing works for big boys on Sunday

Nothing works for big boys on Sunday
AGENCE FRANCE PERSSE

Melbourne, January 21: It was bloody Sunday at the Australian Open as two of the pre-tournament favourites, Pete Sampras and Marat Safin, were sent home early in major fourth round upsets.

Sampras, bidding to extend his record-breaking haul of 13 Grand Slam titles, looked on track when he edged a first set tie-break against compatriot Todd Martin.

But from then on, Martin's serve and return were irresistible as he completed a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win that was only his third in 20 matches against Sampras.

The gentle giant now faces Andre Agassi, who beat Australian Andrew Ilie earlier in the day, in the quarter-finals. With Sampras, Safin and world number one Gustavo Kuerten all out, Agassi is now odds on favourite to claim his third Open title.

Safin's conqueror, Dominik Hrbaty, will meet Australia's Pat Rafter in the other quarter in the top half of the draw.

Despite the defeat and a growing sense that his best days are behind him, Sampras insisted retirement was not an issue.

"I feel like I can still win majors and I want to win a few more before I am done," he said.

"I'm disappointed not to have done it here but I've got many years and many Slams ahead of me."

Agassi tamed showman Ilie in four sets to book his place in the last eight.

Ilie, who has delighted the home crowd with his shirt-ripping antics, looked briefly like he could pull off his biggest ever victory.

The Romanian-born player produced a string of winners to sweep the first set tiebreak and then broke Agassi in the third game of the second. But the Las Vegan broke back immediately and soon took control.

"He played some spectacular tennis," Agassi admitted. "I wasn't really doing that much wrong."

The American however stuck to his pre-match strategy of continuing to keep the ball in play and trying to force the brilliant-but-erratic Ilie to play more shots from close to his body. "Fortunately the tide turned."

Safin, the Russian tipped to assume Sampras's crown after his stunning defeat of the American in last year's US Open final, was a shadow of his normal self as he succumbed 6-2, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Hrbaty.

Hrbaty, a semi-finalist at the 1999 French Open, faces Rafter, having won nine straight matches after a tournament win in New Zealand the week before the Open.

"There was something wrong with me today because I couldn't move and I made just too many mistakes," moaned Safin. "I mean, I can't play like this being No.2 in the world. This is not my tennis ... that's ridiculous how I played today. It was a little bit of a disaster."

Rafter's aggressive serve/volley game will present Hrbaty with a tougher challenge.

The Aussie star looked close to his best as he dismissed Tim Henman 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets.

Monica wins a dogfight

In the women's section four-time champion Monica Seles found herself in a three-set dogfight today and had to claw back from the brink twice against rising teen star Justine Henin.

The veteran campaigner though is made of stern stuff and joined Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Anna Kournikova in the quarter-finals.

The 27-year-old American maintained her record of only losing once in 37 matches here and will meet old rival Capriati for a semi-final place.

Davenport plays Kournikova, who is in a Grand Slam last eight for only the second time.

Seles pulled back from one set down and 2-4 in the second and third sets against the spirited Henin, drawing on her experience to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

"I think coming into this tournament Justine has been playing better tennis with her confidence high, winning two tournaments," she said and pointed to her fighting spirit as the asset that finally won the day.

Seles has been at the business end of a Grand Slam many times before. So has Capriati. But other than her semi-final appearance here last year, she hasn't made the last eight since her golden years in the early 1990s.

In that period, Capriati, who downed Spain's Marta Marrero 7-5, 6-1 was a quarter-finalist nine times before she spiralled out of control, caught up in minor shoplifting and drugs scandals.