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by Prip Anna Kournikova only barely survived her match against doubles partner Barbara Schett today, winning 2-6 6-4 6-3. Making unbelievable errors and acting like a brat on court, the Russian got lucky, and will get to wear her golden shoes for at least another singles match here in Melbourne Park. Her fourth round bout with Barbara Rittner should be a little less testing, although the former top 25 player has been turning in solid performances after dropping down the rankings last year from injuries. Justine Henin, as expected, took out Sandrine Testud easily in straight sets despite suffering from blisters on her foot. The Belgian will next meet Monica Seles, who struggled against fellow lefty Emilie Loit in the night match. The Frenchwoman has been very good about keeping her cool lately, and managed to move on from several close calls. Playing very smart tennis to move Monica around and open the court up, Emilie did an extremely good job of exposing Monica's glaring weakness. Seles won her only previous encounter with Henin, which was played on carpet at the Fed Cup final on the American's home turf. This time, however, the Belgian is likely to perform far better, and should at the very least take the match to three sets. I think Justine will come through against the American, particuarly if she watched the Loit match and picked up a few tips. Meanwhile, the other talented young Belgian -- Kim Clijsters -- moved easily into the next round, and will play against Lindsay Davenport. The surprise of the day in the women's draw came from Marta Marrero of Spain, who defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi in four tough sets. The Spaniard has a mature build for her age, and has nearly equaled her career best Grand Slam performance in reaching the fourth round here at the Aussie Open. At only 17 years of age, she reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, which, incidentally, was her debut Grand Slam event, before finally falling to Conchita Martinez. Semifinal predictions: Martina Hingis (1) to come through against Serena Williams (6), only to meet her sister Venus (3) in the semis. In the bottom half, Justine Henin will get through Monica Seles (4) to take on Lindsay Davenport (2). Pete Sampras once again turned in a very questionable performance, against Juan Ignacio Chela of Spain. Barely showing any effort on the court, the American was lucky to take the fourth set, but when he did, he smelled blood and went for the kill. His luck seems to be running good, as Todd Martin will be waiting in the next round instead of Cedric Pioline. The Spanish thirteenth seed played a sloppy match against Todd, but would have posed a serious threat to Pete had he gotten through this match. Marat Safin rolls on in the men's draw, whipping Michal Tabara 6-1 6-1 6-4. Andre Agassi again turned in a solid performance, despite blowing a small lead and having to save 1 set point in the first set. With temperatures soaring around 36 degrees, his opponent David Prinosil simply couldn't keep up, though, and had to retire at 0-5 down in the second set with heat exhaustion. Pat Rafter also cruised into the next round, ending his 6-4 6-1 7-5 win over unheralded Michel Kratochvil on an ace. Finally getting his rhythm and his service going, the Aussie signed as many autographs as he could reach up comfortably for, but looked like his shoulder is still giving him problems. Always a nice guy, he gave his t-shirt to one of the ballboys to give one of the fans in the stands. Aside from a hiccup in the third set, Tim Henman had little trouble disposing of Wayne Arthurs in the men's night match. Henman will meet his second Aussie in as many rounds, taking on Patrick Rafter next. Meanwhile, Andrew Ilie continues to amuse the fans with his shirt-tearing and post-match antics. Walking into and even accidentally hitting a ballboy with the ball with a service return, the Aussie cruised past Mikhail Youzhny after pulling through the first set in a tie-breaker. Ilie's sure to get a Rod Laver Arena showcase in the next round, where he'll be playing a fellow named Andre. Semifinal predictions: with Greg Rusedski taking out top seed Gustavo Kuerten and Lleyton Hewitt looking less than 100%, the first semifinal should end up between fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov and unseeded Carlos Moya. In the bottom half, Andre Agassi (6) and Marat Safin (2) will battle it out. Day 5 saw the first of the mixed doubles teams in action. One notable change in the draw is the withdrawal of prominent couple Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters. With both still in contention in the singles draw, the move was probably the smart thing to do. Another couple still in contention in the singles is Marlene Weingartner and Andrew Ilie, but that pair will give the mixed doubles a go. One seeded team has already been taken out. Nicklas Kulti and Asa Carlsson, seeded eighth, lost to wildcards Scott Draper and Lisa McShea in straight sets despite a tough fight at the end. To the delight of the local crowd, the Aussies won 6-3 7-6(10). # 1 seeds Rennae Stubbs and Todd Woodbridge will play '99 French Open champions Piet Norval and Katarina Srebotnik in the first round, while second seeds Anna Kournikova and Max Mirnyi will play Amanda Coetzer and David Adams. Tough first-round matches, but the top two pairs look good to reach the finals. Other teams of note: Lisa Raymond / Leander Paes, Joshua Eagle / Barbara Schett (4), Mahesh Bhupathi / Ai Sugiyama (7). |