MELBOURNE, Australia -- Another top seed is gone from the men's draw.
|  | | Fourth seed Magnus Norman of Sweden yells in frustration during his fourth round loss to France's 16th seed Sebastien Grosjean. |
This time, it's Magnus Norman, the No. 4 seed who lost to 16th-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France, 7-6 (7), 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.
Norman joins top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, No. 2 Marat Safin and No. 3 Pete Sampras on the sidelines. Safin, Sampras and Norman all were dumped in the fourth round; Kuerten couldn't last past the second.
Fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who knocked off Swede Andreas Vinciguerra 7-5, 7-5, 6-1, is the highest-remaining seed in the draw.
The final point of Grosjean's victory over Norman came on an ace that a detecting device
registered as a let. On the previous point, Norman argued in vain
that Grosjean's service winner was out, but he gave Grosjean the
decisive point as the umpire told the players of the call while
they were shaking hands.
"There was no let. I couldn't take the point," Norman said.
"He didn't hear any let, and I didn't hear any let. ... Obviously
the ball was a lot above the net."
Asked if he should win a fair play award for 2001, Norman
laughed and said: "It will be difficult to give it to somebody
else."
Grosjean said, "He gave me the point. It was very nice for
me."
Grosjean advanced to a quarterfinal with unseeded Carlos Moya, a
former top-ranked player who is coming back from injury. Moya beat
Germany's Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4.
Arnaud Clement ended British hopes at
the Australian Open on Monday when the 15th seed thrashed Greg
Rusedski 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 in the fourth round to reach the
quarterfinals.
Clement, a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open last year,
recorded his best result at the season-opening Grand Slam in a
one-sided contest at Vodafone Arena at Melbourne Park.
|  | | Greg Rusedski's mistakes did him in against No. 15 Arnaud Clement. |
The flashy Frenchman hit winners seemingly at will against a
sluggish Rusedski, many from the backhand as he mixed deft
volleys with whipping passing shots.
"I don't think I've seen him play a better match," Rusedski
said. "He's so fast, I think he's the fastest man on tour right
now and with footwork like that he's going to play well."
Rusedski, the 1997 U.S. Open runner-up, had toppled top seed
and world number one Gustavo Kuerten in the second round on the
way to recording his best performance in Melbourne but had no
answer to Clement's array of passing shots.
Rusedski hammered 19 aces but marred his
usually strong service game with double faults at crucial times.
He double-faulted twice to hand Clement a decisive break in the
11th game of the third set.
Rusedski complained about time-wasting by Clement during the
match as the Frenchman changed his shirt and sweatbands at the
end of each set. Clement was given a time violation by chair
umpire John Blom at the start of the third set.
"Somebody told me after the match ... maybe Rusedski asked for
the warning for me. I don't think it's fair play," Clement said.
Clement will play fifth seed and 1999 Australian Open
champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who blasted
past Swede Andreas Vinciguerra 7-5, 7-5, 6-1.
Vinciguerra, 19, pushed the 1999 Australian Open champion
and 2000 runner-up in the first two sets but succumbed on his
own serve at crucial points and then weakened in the third set.
The Swede, ranked 52 in the world, pushed backhands into the
net when serving at 5-6 in the first two sets to hand Kafelnikov
the advantage.
Olympic champion Kafelnikov stepped up his game in the third
set, running away with two breaks and hitting a forehand winner
on his second match point.
"Two sets to love is a huge advantage. I started to go for
my shots a lot more at that time," Kafelnikov said.
"I have a tough match coming up against Clement," he added.
Clement beat Kafelnikov last year in Cincinnati on his way
to his first Tennis Masters Series semifinal.
Britain's only other hope in the tournament, eighth seed Tim
Henman, was beaten in straight sets by Australian Pat Rafter
Sunday.
Moya, who has slumped to 42nd in the world rankings after a
back injury almost ruined his career, advanced to his first
Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 1998 U.S. Open.
The Spaniard followed up his thrilling five-set win over
Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday to seal victory
over Schuettler of Germany in less than two hours. He will play
either Magnus Norman or Sebastien Grosjean on Wednesday.
"When you are low you have no confidence and you do not
think that you will experience the feelings of success again,"
said Moya, the French Open champion of 1998.
"There were times when I felt it might not happen for me.
"But the feelings I have now are happy ones. Who knows what
will happen?
"I am playing my best tennis for years -- since I won the
French Open in fact.
"I have beaten everyone else in the draw here at some stage
apart from (Andre) Agassi but when you feel good about yourself
you feel as though you can beat anyone."
Half of the quarterfinal pairings were already set. Australia's
Pat Rafter, seeded 12th, will face No. 14 Dominik Hrbaty, and No. 6
Andre Agassi will play Todd Martin, who upset Pete Sampras on
Sunday. Martin will try to become the first player to beat both
Sampras and Agassi in the same Grand Slam tournament.
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