TENNIS/Roundup: Jennifer Capriati's build-up to the defence of her Australian Open suffered a major blow yesterday when she was knocked out of the Sydney International by Alexandra Stevenson and injured her hip.
The American failed to show any of the form that saw her win last year's Australian and French Open titles as she crashed to a 7-6 3-6 6-4 defeat.
The world number two also aggravated a hip injury during the second set and needed treatment in the third but said she did not expect it to trouble her at the Australian Open, starting on Monday.
"I was still able to move around the court well without having any pain," Capriati said. "I think it should be okay because I'll really take care of it."
The loss means Capriati will go into next week's Australian Open with only one competitive match under her belt this year.
The world number two was well below her best against Stevenson, who made the Wimbledon semi-finals as a qualifier in 1999, as she committed a string of unforced errors in the hot and windy conditions.
"I didn't play aggressively enough," Capriati said. "I let her dictate around the court and I didn't really play my game but I am not going to let it get my confidence down."
Stevenson took the first set in a tiebreaker but Capriati squared the match at one set all when she won the second only to lose her way again in the third. Capriati saved a match point in the ninth game after losing two successive service games only to blow a 40-0 lead in the 10th game and hand the match to Stevenson.
Capriati was the only seeded woman who failed to reach the quarter-finals in Sydney, although Belgium's Kim Clijsters had a scare in her second round match with Italian Silvia Farina Elia.
Third seed Clijsters lost the first set in a tie-break and was down 2-0 in the second before clawing her way back to win 6-7 6-4 6-1.
Clijsters will play her Federation Cup partner Justine Henin in the quarter-finals after the Wimbledon finalist thrashed Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez 6-0 6-3.
The only two seeds to reach the quarter-finals in the depleted men's draw were Switzerland's Roger Federer and American teenager Andy Roddick.
Second-seed Federer brushed aside Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-2 6-4 while third seed Roddick blasted past Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 6-0 6-4.
Roddick was in ominous form ahead of the Australian Open, racing through the first set in just 15 minutes and sending down seven aces, including one thunderbolt timed at 209 km/h.
"Obviously this week is preparation for next week," said Roddick, who climbed from 160 to 16 in the rankings last year. "I thought today was a good stepping stone for me. I started returning well and I felt like I was moving decently out there to go along with my serve."
Roddick will play Lee Hyung-taik in the quarter-finals after the Korean beat Paradorn Srichaphan 6-2 6-3 a day after the Thai defeated top seed Sebastien Grosjean of France.
Goran Ivanisevic had a scare before beating teenager Mikhail Youzhny in the Heineken Open in Auckland. The Wimbledon champion lost the first set to the 19-year-old Russian but hit back after a rain delay, eventually winning 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Ivanisevic said: "I'm 30 years old, 11 years older than him, so he has to learn. This rain helped me. I served better when I needed it. You get another chance, then you have to go back again." Second seed Ivanisevic will face either Greg Rusedski or Michal Tabara in the quarter-finals, with the Czech star leading 7-5 0-1 when rain stopped play last night.
