Battling Hewitt bows out, Nadal sparkles

Lleyton Hewitt's famous resilience was not enough to stop him bowing out of the Australian Open to an inspired Fernando Gonzalez yesterday.

The Australian 19th seed saved three match points before losing 6-2 6-2 5-7 6-4 to the Chilean 10th seed, ending home hopes on a soggy day at Melbourne Park on which Maria Sharapova continued to splutter and Rafael Nadal found top gear.

Nikolay Davydenko, James Blake, Andy Murray, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis advanced comfortably but David Nalbandian was on the brink of becoming the second highest men's seed to exit the tournament before sinking Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Gonzalez outclassed Hewitt in the first two sets but the gritty 25-year-old Australian refused to buckle, battling back to produce his best tennis of the match and hold up the classy South American.

Gonzalez earned his first match point in the fourth set with Hewitt serving at 3-5 and he led 40-15 on his own serve at 5-4, only for the fist-pumping Australian to unleash two devastating winners.

Battling the crowd at Rod Laver Arena as much as his opponent, Gonzalez finally sealed victory in two hours 40 minutes with a raking forehand which the former world number one just could not return.

"It's always going to be hard to come back against a guy playing like that, swinging like that. I was nearly able to turn it round but it was always going to be a tough task," Hewitt told a news conference after his 11th unsuccessful attempt to win his home grand slam.

Gonzalez, who made just two unforced errors in the first two sets, acknowledged his hot streak.

"I played unbelievable for two sets and I was doing whatever I wanted with the ball," said the 26-year-old Chilean who next plays Blake.

With no play possible on the outside courts due to heavy rain, top seed Sharapova was made to work hard by Italian Tathiana Garbin before securing an unconvincing 6-3 6-1 victory.

Russian Sharapova, who survived a three-hour first-round match in searing heat, rarely produced her most fluent tennis against the 30th seed but seemed unconcerned after the 69-minute contest.

"I thought it was pretty good," she said. "I was a bit slow in the beginning of the match. I was letting her play her game a little too much but as the match went on I moved a lot better."

Ride above the jungle

Sharapova maintained her relaxed demeanour when she revealed how she had taken a ride above the Costa Rican jungle on a recent holiday.

"I am very adventurous, I am pretty fearless at those things and I love to get an adrenaline rush," she said. "It's so fun, you see the trees and the waterfalls."

The world number two next plays fellow Russian Vera Zvonereva who made a mockery of the rankings with a 6-1 6-2 win over Serb Ana Ivanovic, seeded nine places above her at 13th.

Eighth seed Patty Schnyder beat Australian Alicia Molik 3-6 6-2 6-0 and Hewitt's later demise meant there will be no Australian in the fourth round of the singles at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2002.

Second seed Nadal was taken to four long sets by unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the previous round but he overwhelmed Wawrinka, the 31st seed, 6-2 6-2 6-2 in just over two hours.

Eighth seed Nalbandian looked dead and buried at two sets down, 4-5 and 0-40 but he dug himself out to win 5-7 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-1 in just under four hours.

"I prefer winning in three sets but it's not that simple sometimes," said Nalbandian, who also saved two match points in his opening match.

Russian third seed Davydenko made short work of Fabrice Santoro, easing past the Frenchman 7-6 6-2 6-2 and fifth seed Blake knocked out fellow American Robby Ginepri 7-6 7-5 6-2 to stay on course to reach his first grand slam semi-final.

The 19-year-old Murray breezed past Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3 6-2 6-4 to record his third straight-sets victory of the tournament and set up a last 16 clash with Nadal.

Fourth seed Clijsters and sixth-seeded Hingis continued their serene progress. Clijsters overwhelmed 29th seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3 6-3 in exactly an hour, and Hingis marched on with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Japan's Aiko Nakamura.