Britain's Andy Murray may now feel a little better about his first round Australian Open defeat by Juan Ignacio Chela after the Argentinian beat Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 to reach the last 32. On the other hand the young Scot may look on this result and think it might have been him in the Rod Laver arena beating last year's runner-up.

Many believed that, if Murray got past Chela, he would have a good chance of taking out Hewitt, the number three seed, who has been struggling for form after a virus and has continued to rail against the slowness of the courts in his home grand slam event. Against Chela his left ankle was strapped during the match and, despite a determined effort in the third set, he had nothing to give in the fourth.

Chela was almost out on his feet at the close and took time out to have a massage, not because he was injured but because he was cramping. This rule needs to be changed quickly.

If a player's general conditioning is not good enough to allow further participation, he or she should forfeit the match.

Not that Chela deserved to lose. As against Murray he served wonderfully well and hit his ground-strokes with great depth, accuracy and venom.

This second-round match had been ridiculously hyped because of the considerable antagonism when the two met here last year, with Chela afterwards fined around £1,000 for spitting in Hewitt's direction.

There was also a rumpus in the locker room, coupled with further bad feeling when Australia played Argentina in the Davis Cup.

But on this occasion the match was played in perfect spirit with Hewitt's stentorian cries of "come on" that had so frustrated Chela last year almost totally absent.

The Australian had struggled to get through the opening round against Robin Vik of the Czech Republic, needing five sets, and the intensity that has been his trademark over the years was largely lacking.

No Australian has won this title since Mark Edmondson in 1976 and the pressure once again told on Hewitt who, despite having won the US Open and Wimbledon titles, has only once gone beyond the last 16 here in 10 attempts.

As the temperatures soared into the 30s, with a blast of greater heat forecast for the weekend, Roger Federer had earlier eased around the centre court as if the word cool had been coined for him. Germany's Florian Mayer was a decidedly florid Mayer by the close of their second-round match that the world number one won 6-1, 6-4, 6-0.

After winning the title two years ago for the first time, Federer was beaten in the semi-finals last year by the subsequent winner Marat Safin, who is now injured, as is the world number two Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Hewitt's defeat has left the main threat as Andy Roddick, the number two seed, and Federer has won 10 of his 11 matches against the American. Small wonder he exudes confidence.

Mayer tried his level best to unbalance the Swiss, principally by attempting to force the issue at the net, as will Max Mirnyi, the giant from Belarus, in the next round tomorrow.

"It was good preparation," said Federer, who took no more out of himself than he might flicking crumbs off a tablecloth.

Tony Roche, his Australian coach, believes Federer could do even more damage more quickly if he came to the net more often. "In a couple of years when I'm maybe a little slower around the court it might be good to come to the net a little more but at the moment I don't really need to change my game," said Federer. Why muck about with perfection?

Aside from Hewitt, the other main casualty of the fourth day was France's Mary Pierce, the number five seed, who was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by the 22-year-old Czech Republic left-hander Iveta Benesova, who had previously won only four matches at this level.

A third-round match between Pierce and Martina Hingis had been keenly anticipated but now the former Swiss world number one will play Benesova after winning 6-1, 6-1 against Emma Laine of Finland. "She can be very dangerous," said Hingis, although she did not sound unduly perturbed at the prospect.

Murray's Australian Open campaign came to an end yesterday as he and Serbian partner Novak Djokovic went out of the doubles in the first round to Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 7-6 6-3.