Greg Rusedski pulled off perhaps the greatest win of his life - and certainly the shock of the week - to knock top seed Gustavo Kuerten out of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
In an unbelievable second round match laced with drama and emotion Rusedski, a different man from the one plagued by injuries and poor form last year, won 4-6 6-4 6-3 2-6 9-7.
In a fierce battle played at a furious pace Rusedski, a huge underdog, saved a match point at 5-6 in the fifth and then with a tremendous amount of courage and determination completed a remarkable victory. He served once for the match at 7-6, was broken back, but then from 0-40 won the next nine points.
"I never expected this, he said afterwards. I had a lot of controversy out there (two bad calls late in the fifth set), but I just kept my head and that's what won me the match," said Rusedski. The Canadian-born 27-year-old now plays qualifier German Lars Burgsmuller, so has every chance of making the last 16.
Women's top seed Martina Hingis sailing through 6-1 6-0 against Belgian Els Callens in 40 minutes. Hingis, without a Grand Slam title for two years, has lost just one match – to Lindsay Davenport - in nine tournaments since the US Open.
Sisters Venus and Serena Williams both won, but it was not as easy for them as it was for Hingis. Venus, the Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic champion, had to win a tie-break against fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy to spare herself a third-set decider for the second round running following her scare against Spanish qualifier Maria Martinez. Serena came through 6-3 6-2 against 18-year-old Nedejda Petrova.
Out went 16th seed Amy Frazier, hammered 6-4 6-1 by Italian Rita Grande, while ninth seed Elena Dementieva, the 19-year-old Russian who was the Olympic silver medallist in September just after reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, had to save a match point before surviving against German qualifier Andrea Glass 2-6 7-6 6-3.
Last year's men's runner-up Yevgeny Kafelnikov trailed German Nicolas Kiefer two sets to one, but levelled and stormed through the final set 6-0. Out on Court Two, meanwhile, 11th seed Franco Squillari, of Argentina, lost in four sets to Canadian Daniel Nestor.
Filed by Seán Folan
