More seeds scattered

Sampras has his eye on a 14th Grand Slam title

Click here for Thursday's men's singles results from Melbourne

Four more seeds, including two former Australian Open finalists, tumbled out of the first Grand Slam of the year on Thursday.

Tim Henman, seeded six, is now the highest seed left in the draw, but Pete Sampras is looming ominously.

Sampras, who has won more Grand Slam titles (13) than any other man in history, eased into the third round with a four-set win over Juan Ignacio Chela.

Last year's beaten finalist Arnaud Clement and 1997 runner-up Carlos Moya both crashed out of the tournament.

Young American hot-shot Andy Roddick was forced out through injury while 29th seed Xavier Malisse lost in straight sets to the veteran Todd Martin.

Federer is a serious contender for the title

However, there are still some dangerous players left in the draw after seventh seed Tommy Haas, ninth seed Marat Safin and 11th seed Roger Federer all won.

The scattering of the seeds has opened things up for Sampras, who was given a real work-out by Chela.

After securing a four-set victory the former world number one said that the fact that seeds were falling left, right and centre showed the quality of today's players.

"It's a sign of where the game is. The game is very deep and there are a lot of great players," he said.

"It has been a pretty bizarre tournament, but it's happening and you've got to move on.

"You can't be too consumed with everyone else and what's going on, just focus on your preparation and getting the job done."

Conceded defeat

Roddick, seeded 13, was forced to withdraw after twisting his ankle during the tie-break at the end of the first set against Ivan Ljubicic.

The young American tried to continue and received treatment from the trainer after eventually losing the set.

He began the second set but the pain soon became too much and he conceded defeat at 3-2 down.

"I sprained my ankle the first night and I was able to play through on adrenaline. Then I did it again," Roddick said afterwards.

"They said to me if I continued playing then there was the danger of long term damage."

Unforced errors

"It's pretty crushing. It's happened a little too much and it is just really disheartening."

The 15th seed, Clement, achieved the best result of his career when he reached the final in Melbourne last year, but his campaign was ended by Gaston Gaudio, who won 6-4 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5).

Despite making 62 unforced errors, Clement felt that the match could have gone either way.

"I seemed to be near my best all the time but I just couldn't work out what I should do," said Clement.

Safin beat Sampras to win the 2000 US Open

"I felt there was never more than a handful of points in it but he took them."

Moya, the 1998 French Open champion, blew a two-set lead to lose 6-2 in the fifth against Germany's Rainer Schuettler.

Malisse was never in his match with Martin, who cruised to a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory.

Number seven seed Haas took just 78 minutes to beat France's Jean-Francois Bachelot 6-1 6-2 6-3.

Haas was clinical on the big points, converting six of the nine break points that came his way.

Ninth seed Safin joined Haas in the third round after he beat Christophe Rochus 6-2 7-6 (8/6) 6-1.

Former world number one and 1998 finalist Marcelo Rios beat Karol Kucera in straight sets while Wayne Ferreira took four sets to dispose of David Nalbandian.

Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, seeded 23, also went through after beating Jose Acasuso 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 6-3.

---

Australian Open - men's singles, Thursday's second round results:

11-Roger Federer (Swi) beat Attila Savolt (Hun) 6-2 7-5 6-4
Rainer Schuettler (Ger) beat 17-Carlos Moya (Spa) 3-6 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 7-6 (7/5) 6-2
8-Pete Sampras (US) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 6-3 7-5 3-6 6-4
Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) beat 13-Andy Roddick (US) 7-6 (13/11) 3-2 (Roddick retired hurt)
Albert Costa (Spa) beat Byron Black (Zim) 6-1 6-4 6-4
Alberto Martin (Spa) beat Michel Kratochvil (Swi) 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-3
Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) beat Mardy Fish (US) 6-4 6-3 6-2
Todd Martin (US) beat 29-Xavier Malisse (Bel) 6-3 6-2 6-2
30-Nicolas Escude (Fra) beat Alex Calatrava (Spa) 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-5 6-4
Gaston Gaudio (Arg) beat 15-Arnaud Clement (Fra) 6-4 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/3)
9-Marat Safin (Rus) beat Christophe Rochus (Bel) 6-2 7-6 (8/6) 6-1
Marcelo Rios (Chi) beat Karol Kucera (Slo) 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 6-2
Wayne Ferreira (SA) beat David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/2) 7-5 6-3
7-Tommy Haas (Ger) beat Jean-Francois Bachelot (Fra) 6-1 6-2 6-3
23-Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) beat Jose Acasuso (Arg) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-3
25-Andrei Pavel (Rom) beat Alexandre Simoni (Bra) 6-1 4-0 (Simoni retired hurt)

Back to top