Grosjean stumbles, Henman strides on at Open

Sebastien Grosjean became the latest high-seeded casualty of the Australian Open on Wednesday when he was ousted in a five-set marathon by Spain's Francisco Clavet.

The French fifth seed, a semifinalist here last year, went down 6-4 3-6 6-0 5-7 6-4 to the oldest man in the draw in a riveting baseline battle.

British sixth seed Tim Henman came through his second round match safely, though, with an imperious performance to sweep aside Vladimir Voltchkov 6-3 6-4 6-1.

Henman will face Greg Rusedski in an all-British showdown after Rusedski out-served home hope Mark Philippoussis in a battle of power on the Rod Laver Arena court.

Rusedski's 7-6 6-3 6-4 victory leaves the Open without an Australian in the third round of the men's draw for this first time since 1969 - the first Open of the professional era.

Grosjean became the latest statistic in a week of shocks at the first grand slam of the season.

The first two days of the tournament saw the numbers one and two seeds, Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten, beaten in the first round and last year's champion Andre Agassi and women's fifth seed Serena Williams withdraw without hitting a ball.

TENACIOUS CLAVET

The 23-year-old Frenchman looked far from his best on Court One as he battled the tenacious Clavet.

Clavet, 33, looped the ball back time and time again and Grosjean was unable to find the big shots to finish points.

Grosjean saved one match point by making a rare foray to the net but Clavet sealed victory with a smash after three hours and 25 minutes.

Henman was in fine form as he dismissed Belarussia's Voltchkov.

"Certainly when I needed to - and we all know it comes down to some very important points - I really served very, very well," he said afterwards.

The top women advanced smoothly, as a ruthless Martina Hingis hammered German qualifier Greta Arn 6-1 6-2 to reach the third round and keep her return from injury on track.

Hingis, Australian Open champion from 1997-99, is playing her first big tournament since tearing ligaments in her right ankle in Filderstadt last October.

Eighth seed Monica Seles joined Hingis by crushing Zimbabwe's Cara Black 6-1 6-1 in equally ruthless fashion.

Fifteenth seed Amanda Coetzer - twice a semifinalist here - beat Paraguay's Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios 6-3 6-1 while 18th-seeded American Lisa Raymond ended compatriot Jill Craybas's challenge 6-3 6-3.

Craybas had reached round two of a grand slam for only the second time when Mary Pierce retired from their first round match on Monday.

Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva, seeded 13th, also followed the script, beating Czech Kveta Hrdlickova 6-4 7-5.

Second seed Venus Williams continues her assault on the title when she tackles fellow American Kristina Brandi to start the night session later on Wednesday while Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic takes on France's Jerome Golmard.