Russell Loses Heartbreaker to Hewitt at Aussie Open

American qualifier Mike Russell endured another heartbreaking Grand Slam loss Tuesday at the Australian Open, leading homecountry favorite Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 before succumbing in five sets 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in a match ending after 1 a.m. local time.


In 2001 Russell led defending French Open champ Gustavo Kuerten two sets to none at Roland Garros before falling 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-1 to the Brazilian who went on to collect his second consecutive French Open title that year.

On a scorching-hot day where the tournament's extreme heat rule had both stadium roofs closes and outside-court matches postponed until the heat subsided later in the day, ESPN courtside measurements had on-court temperatures in excess of 120.

"Is unbelievable hot outside," said Nadal, who said keep the roof open after his straight-set win over American Robert Kendrick. "I prefer play without indoor, but that's it. That's fine. Most important thing is I won today. Always is very difficult to start one tournament."

Other seeded winners were (3) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Roitman), (5) James Blake (d. Moya), (9) David Nalbandian (d. Tipsarevic who retired in the 5th with heat exhaustion), (10) Fernando Gonzalez (d. Korolev in four), (12) Tommy Haas (d. Montanes), (13) Tomas Berdych (d. H.-T.Lee), (15) Andrew Murray (d. A.Martin 0-0-and-1), (17) Jarkko Nieminen (d. Goldstein in four), (21) Dmitry Tursunov (d. Waske in four), (28) Sebastien Grosjean (d. C.Rochus who retired in the second), and (31) Stanislas Wawrinka (d. K.Kim in four).

"You just try to keep energies," Nalbandian said. "That's the more important thing. Then after, it's more like a mind game. It's everything on the mind. I was very tired as well, but I didn't show him how I feel it. He started cramping or, I don't know, something, and he showed me that he was a little bit tired, so I keep very focused with my mind, very tight out there so I could make it."

German Florian Mayer beat No. 23 seed Robin Soderling 6-0 in the fifth, and Frenchman Arnaud Clement ousted No. 29 Xavier Malisse in four in seeded upsets on the day.

Seeded players and other matches of interest scheduled for Wednesday are (1) Federer vs. Bjorkman, (6) Roddick vs. Gicquel, (11) Baghdatis vs. Gael "Force" Monfils, (14) Djokovic vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, (26) Safin vs. Dudi "Where's My Car?" Sela, (18) Richard "Baby Fed" Gasquet vs. Delic, (7) Robredo vs. Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer, (24) Ferrero vs. Udomchoke, (9) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, (16) Ferrer vs. T.Johansson, (22) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. rappin' Vince Spadea, (25) Youzhny vs. Y.-H.Lu, and (20) Radek "Mr. Hingis" Stepanek vs. Dlouhy.