Serena Williams, Bundled out in the fourth round
It was a day of shocks at the Australian Open as homeboy Lleyton Hewitt was sent tumbling out of the tournament along with American ladies star Serena Williams. Sweden's 12th seed Magnus Norman ended Hewitt's winning run of 13 straight match victories with straight sets win in the fourth round in Melbourne. Norman beat the unseeded Hewitt 6-3 6-1 7-6 and will now play German fourth seed Nicolas Kiefer in the quarterfinals. Kiefer, seeded four, beat South African Wayne Ferreira 6-3 6-4 6-2.
Meanwhile, Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui reached the quarterfinals with a gripping five-set victory over Frenchman Arnaud Clement. The unseeded El Aynaoui beat Clement 3-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 10-8 and will play defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov or Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus in the next round.
In the ladies competition US Open champion Serena Williams was bundled out in the fourth round by 16th seed Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 6-3. Number three seed Williams, who appeared sluggish, was beaten in one hour and 14 minutes. Her serve and forehand let her down, particularly in the first set where she made 20 unforced errors to the Russian's six. They traded breaks in the second set but the world number four was unable to rise to the occasion, making another 12 unforced errors to hand a quarter-final clash with Conchita Martinez of Spain to Likhovtseva. Elder sister Venus pulled out citing tendinitis in her left wrist, but Williams denied she was unprepared to play a Grand Slam.
Spanish veterans Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Conchita Martinez battled into the last eight. The thirteenth-seeded Sanchez-Vicario, a triple French Open champion, reached her 34th Grand Slam quarter-final by beating sixth seed Barbara Schett of Austria 1-6 6-0 7-5 and will next play Hingis or 12th seed Sandrine Testud of France. Tenth seed and former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez wasted little time dispatching American Kristina Brandi 6-1 6-1 to set up a match with Likhovtseva.
