Roddick exits after shock defeat in Melbourne

Andy Roddick tumbled out of the Australian Open yesterday after a shock loss to Marcos Baghdatis, the flamboyant Cypriot who is rapidly developing a cult following at the year's first grand slam.

World number 54 Marcos Baghdatis scored easily the biggest win of his career by beating the big-serving Andy Roddick 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4, and sparked wild celebrations among fans drawn from Melbourne's large Greek community that have adopted him as one of their own.

The top women's seeds all advanced safely, though world number one Lindsay Davenport survived an injury scare before limping to a 6-2 6-4 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.

"I think it's one of my best matches in my life," Baghdatis said after the victory on Rod Laver Arena. "I'm just in my own world and playing my best tennis and having the crowd here supporting me is great."

Roddick's defeat leaves Argentina's Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian as the highest ranked player in the bottom half of the men's singles draw.

The fourth seed reached the quarter-finals for the fourth successive year yesterday with a 6-3 6-0 2-6 6-2 victory over Tommy Robredo.

He plays Fabrice Santoro after the Frenchman known as "the magician" beat Spanish baseliner David Ferrer 6-4 7-5 7-5 to reach his first grand slam quarter-final in his 18th year on the professional circuit.

"When you start your career at 16 and your first quarter-final is arriving at 33 years old, it's a long time," Santoro said.

"There's been 54 grand slams in between. I knew today was my chance, maybe the last one."

Women's fourth seed Maria Sharapova defeated Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-4 to set up an all-Russian quarter-final with Nadia Petrova.

Eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne underlined her standing as favourite to win the women's tournament with a crushing 6-0 6-3 defeat of Virginia Ruano Pascual. The Belgian will play Davenport tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals.

"I can do good comebacks. But it takes a lot of energy," said Henin-Hardenne, who won the tournament in 2004 but was unable to defend her title last year because of injury.

"I will enjoy being in the quarters again. I think that's amazing after four months off."

Davenport looked to be in serious trouble when she jammed her ankle on the sticky Rebound Ace courts midway through the second set but quickly recovered to polish off Kuznetsova in straight sets.

"I knew that if it wasn't in two sets, that my chances were significantly reduced so I was trying very hard," a relieved Davenport said.

Tournament organisers invoked the extreme heat rule for the third day in a row, closing the roofs over the two main courts as the mercury soared to 43°C.

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion and a semi-finalist in Melbourne last year, fought back from a break down in each set to end Hantuchova's run. Hantuchova had knocked out defending champion Serena Williams on Friday.

Sixth seed Petrova was also in scintillating form, thrashing unseeded Russian compatriot Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-1 to advance, but there was no doubting who stole the Australian Open limelight yesterday.

Baghdatis racked up 63 clean winners in a stunning display, managing to blunt Roddick's powerful serve. The Cypriot even out-served Roddick, slamming 16 aces to Roddick's 15.

Baghdatis also reached the fourth round last year but is through to his first grand slam quarter-final and growing in confidence. He now plays Ivan Ljubicic who beat former champion Thomas Johansson 6-2 6-4 6-4.

"I didn't play that badly today," Roddick said.

"I think I would have beaten most people today but let's give credit where credit's due, he played a great match."