Hewitt and Pierce fall as Swiss duo saunter on

Lleyton Hewitt and Mary Pierce were knocked out of the Australian Open yesterday while the Swiss pair of Martina Hingis and Roger Federer maintained cruise control during a day of high drama at Melbourne Park.

Third seed Hewitt was beaten by his Argentine arch-rival Juan Ignacio Chela, Pierce fell to unseeded Czech Iveta Benesova and 10 seeds in all exited the first grand slam of the year.

Hingis, at her comeback grand slam tournament, rolled back the years to thrash Finland's Emma Laine 6-1 6-1 and reach the third round after 31-year-old Pierce, the fifth seed from France, was beaten 6-3 7-5.

Men's world number one Federer strolled through to the next stage, hammering German Florian Mayer 6-1 6-4 6-0 in 72 minutes and the tournament is now seemingly at his mercy.

"I can't see anyone beating him now," Hewitt told a news conference after his defeat.

"His scorelines are pretty convincing and when he's playing with that much confidence it's a huge boost to have on your side."

Federer has won five of the last eight grand slams.

Australian Hewitt was unable to reach the dizzy heights of a year ago when he rode a wave of national patriotism into the final, losing 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-2 against Chela in a match that failed to live up to the hype.

There was none of the expected fireworks after last year's spiteful third-round clash between the pair after which Chela was fined for spitting in the Australian's direction.

"They talked a lot about what happened last year, but when I got on to the court I was just thinking about the tennis match and not about what happened last year," Chela said through an interpreter.

Hewitt and Pierce joined Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Gisela Dulko, Marion Bartoli, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Olivier Rochus and Fernando Verdasco on the seeded casualty list.

World number two Kim Clijsters was lucky not to join them after a painful hip injury in her 6-4 6-2 win over Chinese qualifier Yuan Meng.

The US Open champion appeared to be on the verge of quitting when she called for a break as the pain became unbearable.

"I'm happy with the win but my body doesn't feel too good at the moment," the Belgian said. "(But) as long as it doesn't get worse, I'll fight until I'm done."

Davydenko worry

Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko is now Federer's main worry on his side of the draw.

American Andy Roddick and David Nalbandian of Argentina are both in the other half, meaning he will not have to face either before the final.

The women's draw is also starting to open up nicely for Hingis, the former world number one who is playing her first grand slam event since retiring in 2002.

Pierce was seeded to be her third round opponent but now she has no more seeds between her and the quarter-finals.

"I wouldn't necessarily say the draw has opened because she lost," Hingis said. "I still have to go out there and do my best."