Sampras wins, Mauresmo out

MELBOURNE -- While other seeded players flop all around them, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras seem destined for a semi-final showdown at the Australian Open.

The top-seeded Agassi had no trouble cruising into the third round yesterday, serving an ace to close out a 7-5, 6-0, 6-3 victory over Sjeng Schalken.

Sampras, number three, advanced just as easily, beating Mikael Tillstrom 6-3, 7-6 (6), 6-1.

"I made the necessary adjustments to overcome what could have been a real, real difficult day, and that's always a good sign for me,'' Agassi said.

"But now as we move on and you get in the second week, you really start becoming much more of a critic of yourself. Now you just want to make sure you stay workmanlike and get through it.''

Seven seeded men have fallen in the first three days. The latest to vacate Agassi and Sampras' half of the draw were Todd Martin and Richard Krajicek.

"Today wasn't easy'' Sampras said, complaining again about the "ridiculous" fast courts.

"Balls are flying all over the place.

''Each match is pretty dangerous out there.''

Martin could attest to that. He blew a 5-2 lead in the fifth set to lose to Spain's Fernando Vicente, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Nicolas Escude of France beat Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.

Eleventh seed Tim Henman reached the third round when German Rainer Schuttler retired with a pulled stomach muscle in the second set.

In the women's draw, Amelie Mauresmo crashed from a dream week to a nightmare exit.

Mauresmo, a finalist a year ago and a victor over three of the top five players in a tournament title run last week, succumbed to her own wildness and the wily tactics of left-hander Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

"Today was one of those days you should probably stay in bed,'' Mauresmo said.

"Of course, I'm very disappointed, but it's one of those days where nothing is really working.

''Every part of my game was down.''

Among the other seeded women, Mary Pierce, Amanda Coetzer, Julie Halard-Decugis, and Anna Kournikova advanced.

Mauresmo had trouble with Schnyder's heavy topspin and occasional drop shots, committed 48 unforced errors and suffered one disastrous game in each set.

In the first set's ninth game, the Frenchwoman started with two double faults and lost her serve at love.

In the second set's third game, Mauresmo again lost her serve at love on two volley errors, a forehand into the net and a double fault.

A week earlier, in a warm-up tournament in Sydney, Mauresmo beat number five Mary Pierce, number one Martina Hingis and number two Lindsay Davenport on her way to the title. That earned her the sixth ranking, her highest ever.

"It's different for me to come in as a favourite, it's difficult, but it's something I might have to get used to,'' Mauresmo said.

Last year, ranked 29th, she became the lowest-ranked player since 1979 to reach the Australian Open final, where she lost to Hingis.

She beat Schnyder in the second round and Davenport in the semi-final.

Serving for the match this time, Schnyder started with a double fault, recovered to 30-15, then dumped a nervous forehand into the net for 30-all.

She set up match point with her third ace and finished by following up a good serve with a forehand winner down the line.

The 21-year-old Swiss player, selected the WTA Tour's most improved player of 1998, rose as high as eighth last year before sliding to 41.

Mauresmo's loss was the biggest upset so far in the women's draw, though number three Serena Williams nearly pre-ceded her.

Williams won a two-hour test of endurance on Tuesday night, beating Australian wild-card entry Amanda Grahame 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. -- Sapa-AP