MELBOURNE, Australia -- A week of upsets claimed 11 of the 16 seeded men in the Australian Open, but the top four are still going.

Defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the No. 2 seed, beat Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 and No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer of Germany beat South Africa's Wayne Ferreira 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday to reach the quarterfinals.

	No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer had no problems against Wayne Ferreira on Monday.

No. 1 Andre Agassi and No. 3 Pete Sampras advanced to the quarterfinals a day earlier.

Kiefer is having such a smooth ride at the Australian Open that Agassi has already joked with him about meeting in the final.

"I talked to Andre yesterday," Kiefer said Monday, "and he told me, 'Maybe we see you next Sunday.' And I said, 'Yeah, I wish, too.'"

Kiefer's path to the championship is daunting. Kafelnikov is in Kiefer's half of the draw, while Agassi and Sampras are in the top half of the draw.

Kiefer next faces No. 12 Magnus Norman of Sweden, who won five tournaments during his best career season last year.

"I know that I can beat them and if I play like this, I have a good chance," said Kiefer, who beat Guillermo Canas, Tomas Behrend and Karim Alami in earlier rounds.

Norman beat Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (6) Monday, ending Hewitt's 13-match winning streak.

Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui beat France's Arnaud 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinals and join compatriot Hicham Arazi.

To nearly everyone's wonderment, a third American joined the quarterfinal party -- former No. 1,342 Chris Woodruff, who is infamous in tennis circles for ... field goal kicking.

Fooling around with Richey Reneberg on a football field in Atlanta in December 1997, Woodruff wrecked his left knee when he fell awkwardly while kicking field goals.

A month later, while Sampras was on his way to winning the Australian Open for the second time, Woodruff underwent arthroscopic surgery and began a year of rehab as his ranking plummeted from No. 30 to No. 1,342.

It was a miserable period for Woodruff. A month before the knee injury, he underwent a double hernia operation. He had been scuffling around the ATP Tour, without much success, since turning pro after winning the 1993 NCAA singles title at Tennessee. He had played in nine major tournaments and never gone past the third round. In fact, he lost in the first round five times.

To say Woodruff's future in tennis looked dim would be a major understatement.

But Woodruff refused to give up on himself, and he worked his way back into tennis shape. Last year, he reached the semifinals at Indian Wells, Calif., got to the third rounds at the French and U.S. Opens, and brought his year-end ranking up to a respectable No. 51 -- by far the biggest jump of anyone on the tour.

Now, he stands among the final eight players at the Australian Open.

Nothing ever seems to be easy for Woodruff, and getting this far in the tournament wasn't either.

He had to overcome a swirling wind, 15 double-faults and some dark moments late in a 3-hour, 46-minute match Sunday to defeat 11th-seeded Tim Henman 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

"I always told myself that if I could make it to the second week of a Grand Slam that I would have to at least consider myself to have a long shot at it," he said. "I just feel that anything is possible now."

Next up, however, is Sampras, who is seeking a record 13th Grand Slam title. Sampras advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Slava Dosedel after Agassi downed Mark Philippoussis 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal match against Morocco's Hicham Arazi.

When Woodruff played Sampras a few years ago, "he took care of me easily," Woodruff said.

"I know Chris well," Sampras said. "He's been on some Davis Cup teams as a practice partner. He has a good game and plays very well on these courts. I've practiced with him over the years and he has a good backhand and serves quite big. He is having a great time."

Against Henman, Woodruff led 4-2 in the final set after three consecutive games in which neither player could hold serve. But Henman immediately broke again with a backhand passing shot down the line.

At 5-5, Woodruff had to save two break points at 15-40. He got back to deuce with a forehand crosscourt passing shot and a net attack that forced Henman into a backhand miss. Then he finished one of his best baseline rallies with an overhead and drew another forehand miss from Henman.

Two volley errors by Henman and his 41st forehand miss of the day gave Woodruff match point. Woodruff pounded back a serve return and watched Henman volley into the net.

Woodruff raised a fist in triumph and was almost apologetic later.

"Tim and I are friends, and I am not a rah-rah kind of in-your-face guy," he said. "Obviously I couldn't control it."

With Woodruff's history, no one could blame him for celebrating.