Saturday would see a very abbreviated schedule, as the tournament went on and the number of matches grew less and less. The highlight of the day was certainly the match between Alicia Molik and Martina Hingis. Martina was was just breezing through the draw, and looked like she'd hardly broken a sweat in her matches. On paper, she had a tough draw, but on court, there was little doubt as to who was in charge. Her first two opponents, Mirjana Lucic and Justine Henin, had been expected to give her a run for her money, but didn't even come close to challenging the Swiss defending champion. Now came the third hurdle, Alicia Molik.

A couple of weeks ago, this match wouldn't have drawn any attention except for the fact that the top seed was in action. However, after the rise of Molik and fall of Dokic in the Australian tennis community's eyes, this was one that could not be missed. Considering that most of you would have seen this one on tv, I'll spare the mundane play-by-play and just go over the jist of things.

Alicia's serve wasn't popping as well as it was in her previous matches, and while this might not have mattered against many other players, it certainly made a difference against Martina Hingis. With Martina's uncanny ability to watch the ball and anticipate where it's going, as well as her quick reflexes, Alicia's serve was far much less of a weapon. As I had observed a couple of months ago, Alicia kept getting in trouble when Martina returned her serves deep to her backhand or at her feet. Alicia couldn't get her game together and was broken in the first game of the match.

As the match progressed, Alicia's serve started to improve. She got her first two aces out wide in the third game of the match, and set up an easy game with a higher first serve percentage. Hingis, however, was quick to use the pace of the ball against Alicia, and found it a simple task blocking back the ball in deep. Every now and then, she'd figure exactly where the ball was going and crack a backhand return.

Basically, Alicia wasn't being aggressive enough, and Martina didn't give her much opportunity to play her A game. In a way, Alicia was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her serve was her biggest weapon, and yet it was the only way she was going to get anywhere in the match. She lived and died by the sword, going for two first serves occasionally and double-faulting all but one time.

Martina relaxed a little more in the second set, and Alicia finally managed to get her game plan in effect. She came in to net at the first opportunity, and got about 60% of the points when she came to net. It was too little too late, though, and it wouldn't be absurd to wonder if Martina had just wanted a little more match practice before getting to the Round of 16.

All other matches had been delayed, due to the erratic weather, and only center court was seeing any play. Arantxa was far from completing her match against Australian hopeful #2, Bryanne Stewart, and Conchita Martinez would have to wait to take on Jelena Kostanic of Croatia. People were leaving by the busloads, not expecting much more tennis for the day.

Later that day, Serena Williams finally got a good start in her match, and Sabine Appelmans, the popular Belgian, was eliminated from the tournament 6-2 7-6(2). She fought bravely in the end, running for the balls and going for her shots, and finally managed to cut down on her unforced errors. Serena Williams joined Martina Hingis in the fourth round, and would take on the winner of the match between Els Callens and Elena Likhovtseva, most likely Likhovtseva.