Andy Roddick’s Australian Open dreams collapsed on Sunday when he was ousted in the fourth round, but women’s top seed Lindsay Davenport remained on course for her second title in Melbourne.
The second-seeded Roddick was sent packing by 54th-ranked Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who drew on vocal crowd support to beat him 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The 2003 United States Open champion was always under pressure against the charismatic Baghdatis and failed to find the weapons to tame him in front of a large contingent of chanting local Greek Cypriots.
”It’s one of the best matches of my life, I’m just in my own world and I’m just playing great tennis,” said Baghdatis. ”Having the crowd with me, it’s just all amazing.”
There were no such dramas for Davenport, who steamed into the quarters along with Justine Henin-Hardenne and Nadia Petrova.
With Roddick’s demise, Davenport is the lone American left in the draw, but ensured the Stars and Stripes kept fluttering with an easy win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The Russian 14th seed has gone off the boil since winning the US Open in 2004 and Davenport took full advantage, outclassing her to win 6-2, 6-4 in less than an hour.
Like several other players in the intense heat, Davenport had a problem with blisters on her left foot, and said she was also struggling with a sprained left ankle but felt her form was coming good at the right time.
”I’m playing some of my best tennis now; it’s unfortunate that the other girls are playing so well too, but I’ve managed to keep improving my game,” she said. ”I’m really happy to get through.”
Her match was played with the roof closed on the Rod Laver Arena with temperatures hitting 43 degrees Celsius, forcing play on outside courts to be suspended for the third straight day.
Davenport will now play Belgian eighth seed Henin-Hardenne, who was equally impressive in her 6-0, 6-3 drubbing of Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual.
Henin-Hardenne has been installed as favourite ahead of Martina Hingis to win the tournament by bookmakers and scorched through her fourth-round match on the Vodafone Arena, also played with the roof closed.
The Belgian knows what it takes to win here, taking the title in 2004 before injury forced her to miss the event last year, and she wasted little energy in her mauling of the Spaniard.
Henin-Hardenne, whose superstitiously refuses to walk on tennis-court lines between points, is now unbeaten in 18 matches in Australia, including her Sydney and Open titles in 2004 and the Sydney title this year.
Fourth seed Maria Sharapova will later attempt to join them in the last eight when she plays Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic, who turfed defending champion Serena Williams from the tournament.
Petrova, seeded six, continued her low-key assault on the title in an all-Russian affair against Elena Vesnina, winning 6-3, 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal against either Sharapova or Hantuchova.
”I didn’t have to face a very tough opponent until now, so I had a chance to get my rhythm into it and got a chance to feel my game, adjust few things in my game,” she said. ”I feel quite confident at the moment.”
Twice a French Open semifinalist, she has never made it past the fourth round here.
Fourth seed David Nalbandian was the other man through, making his fourth consecutive Australian Open quarterfinal with a four-set win over Tommy Robredo.
The other round-of-16 match involves Spanish 11th seed David Ferrer and Fabrice Santoro of France, with the winner playing Nalbandian. — Sapa-AFP