Safin, Haas progress but Clement bows out

Russian ninth seed Marat Safin moved smoothly through an increasingly open Australian grand slam draw on Thursday, hammering Christophe Rochus into submission 6-2 7-6 6-1 to reach the third round.

Safin is, with Pete Sampras and Carlos Moya, one of only three players left in the draw to have won a grand slam title, and the 2000 U.S. Open champion is fast becoming a favourite in Melbourne.

The tournament's top five seeds have all failed to make the third round for the first time in its 97-year history. Top- seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt and second seed Gustavo Kuerten both lost in the first round while last year's winner Andre Agassi withdrew injured hours before his first round match.

They were followed out of the event by fourth seed and former champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and fifth seed Sebastien Grosjean, a semifinalist last year, in round two.

If Safin wants to add to his sole grand slam triumph, he will have to get past eighth seed Sampras - his victim in the final of that U.S. Open victory.

The pair are seeded to meet in the fourth round here. Sampras faces Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela later on Thursday.

Last year's runner-up Arnaud Clement's bid to go one better this time round was snuffed out in the second round when the 15th seed skidded out 6-4 4-6 6-2 7-6 to Argentine Gaston Gaudio.

Clement recorded the best grand slam performance of his career in Melbourne last year but showed all too few glimpses of that form against Gaudio, who had been beaten in the first round in nine of his previous 11 grand slam events.

Gaudio, 23, took advantage of an uncharacteristically sloppy performance by Clement, who gifted him a stream of easy points with a hefty 62 unforced errors.

DARK HORSE

Olympic silver medallist Tommy Haas also eased into the third round and emerges as a dark horse.

The German, a semifinalist here in 1999, overpowered French qualifier Jean-Francois Bachelot 6-1 6-2 6-3.

Haas will meet either American Todd Martin or 29th seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the third round.

Former runner-up Marcelo Rios advanced smoothly, beating the 1998 finalist Slovak Karol Kucera 7-6 7-5 6-2. He was joined by South Africa's Wayne Ferreira, a winner over Argentine David Nalbandian 6-7 7-6 7-5 6-3 and 23rd seed Nicolas Lapentti who beat another Argentine, Jose Acasuso, 7-6 6-2 6-3.

In a women's draw which has avoided the shocks of the men's field, 12th seed Elena Dementieva comfortably beat fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina 6-4 6-2 while 20th seed Rita Grande of Italy beat Dutchwoman Kristie Boogert 7-6 7-5.

Women's top seed Jennifer Capriati faces fellow American Meilen Tu in the night session.