Upsets abound at U.S. Open

The U.S. Open lost sentimental favourite Monica Seles and its most colourful character in Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic on a tumultuous Sunday at the National Tennis Center.

After six days with few surprises at Flushing Meadows, a trio of top players went tumbling out of the year's final Grand Slam as fifth-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero was also freed to make other plans for the forthcoming week.

Ivanisevic, who thrilled the tennis world and won legions of new fans with his amazing victory at Wimbledon as a wild card in July, foundered on the critical points to drop a third-round match to 40th-ranked Spaniard Albert Costa 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2).

A pair of previously unheralded teenagers did the rest of the damage.

Seles, who the New York fans have taken to their hearts since her return from the infamous 1993 stabbing incident in Hamburg, was stunned by 18-year-old Czech Daja Bedanova 7-5 4-6 6-3.

Bedanova, the only unseeded woman to reach the last eight, had also picked off 12th-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy and has only dropped serve twice en route to her first Grand Slam quarter-final.

"Last year I qualified here and I lost in the first round," she said. "So I came here with nothing to lose. I wanted to win the first round, then maybe the second.

"Then I thought being in the third round would be great. Now here I am in the quarter-finals," said Bedanova, who will face top-seeded 1997 champion Martina Hingis.

SPANISH MARATHON

Ferraro lost an all-Spanish marathon to 19-year-old Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-1) in three and a half hours.

The 39th-ranked Robredo, who had dispatched former U.S. Open finalist Todd Martin in the second round, dominated the final tie-break in what was the 100th fifth-set tie-break in U.S. Open history.

"I tried to play my best and I did," said Robredo. "For me, that's one of the best matches of my life."

In the round of 16, Robredo faces another 19-year-old hotshot in American Andy Roddick, who reached his first Grand Slam fourth round with an impressive 6-4 6-2 6-2 dismantling of experienced Spaniard Alex Corretja, the 11th seed.

Ivanisevic got a chance to watch some of that match and came away impressed with the teenager who has been labelled "the future of American tennis".

"Today I saw Roddick just killing Corretja, all that power, he's hitting those forehands," said the 15th seed.

Ivanisevic, whose wacky sense of humour and admission of multiple personalities has made him a popular figure around the tour, is still so happy about achieving his lifelong dream at Wimbledon that he couldn't even get upset about his fourth consecutive loss to Costa.

But he did lament squandered opportunities.

"First set I had a break, I had set point in the second set. I had chances in the third. I could win all three sets," he said.

"I didn't put one first serve in in the third-set tie-break, so it's very tough. I gave my best, tried everything and lost," said the 29-year-old Croat.

STANDING OVATION

But he added: "It's a great thing when you leave the court, you get a standing ovation. You leave New York a happy man."

In other men's third-round action, fourth seed Lleyton Hewitt shrugged off the controversy from his second-round outburst to easily defeat 25th-seeded Spaniard Albert Portas 6-1 6-3 6-4 and set up a round of 16 clash with 16th-seeded German Tommy Haas, who stormed to a 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory over 41st-ranked Czech Jiri Novak in 99 minutes.

Seles, widely tipped as a title threat, said she could never get comfortable despite playing on the court where she lifted the U.S. Open trophy in 1991 and 1992, as she suffered her earliest exit since 1990.

"It's just very disappointing to lose after playing so well coming in," said Seles, who had posted wins during this U.S. summer over Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Hingis.

"It's frustrating when you have a day like today in a Grand Slam," added Seles, who was run ragged by the Czech teenager.

Urged on by the crowd, Seles looked to have turned the match her way when she took the second set with the help of her lone service break in the final game.

But the seventh seed could not maintain her fragile momentum as she dropped her serve to open the third set and was never able to get it back.

Third seed Lindsay Davenport also looked ready to head for the exits earlier on Sunday.

She had all kinds of trouble finding the range on her shots in extremely windy conditions and looked very sluggish. But the 1998 champion regrouped in time to salvage a 6-3 0-6 6-3 victory over 21st-seeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva.

Davenport will need to raise her game several notches in the next round when she takes on 10th seed Serena Williams, a 7-5 6-0 conqueror of sixth-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin of Belgium.

Williams had some words that should strike fear into the hearts of her rivals.

"In the end, I was really just warming up," she said.