Australian Open: Hewitt raises the temperature

Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" could well be a theme song for the survivors in the men's event at the Australian Open. Injury claimed two more victims in yesterday's fourth round and, with the field now down to 16, Lleyton Hewitt leads a rousing charge of the young brigade.

After Marat Safin had failed even to get on court for his scheduled match against Germany's Rainer Schuettler because of wrist problems, the Belgian, Xavier Malisse, became the eighth man to pull out of the event when he was forced to retire in the fourth set against David Nalbandian of Argentina with a sore arm. But Hewitt sails gloriously on, one of eight title chasers aged 22 or younger. Top seed, world No 1, the only Aussie left, the 21-year-old Hewitt needs broad shoulders and bags of bounce. Luckily, he possesses both as he bids to become the first home player to win the Australian title since Mark Edmondson 27 years ago.

No trees had been uprooted in Hewitt's six previous Australian Opens: six matches won, six lost. Never before had he needed the second week of his hotel reservation in Melbourne. Now he is on a roll, though the progress is more in keeping with armoured car than surfboard. The bright new Czech, Radek Stepanek, was the latest to be scorched by the flame of Hewitt's game, subsiding 6-3 6-2 6-0 in 90 minutes. This was the man who had put out Gustavo Kuerten in the previous round, yet he was never in with a hope after winning the first two games of the match.

Predictably stirred, though clearly not shaken, Hewitt tore into his opponent, who had shot up almost 500 places in the rankings last year after taking advice from a compatriot and former Australian Open champion, Petr Korda. Yesterday he got another lesson, but this time from Hewitt. Stepanek was rapidly disabused of the tendency to over-use the drop shot as the speedy lad from Adelaide ran down almost every one.

While acknowledging Hewitt's merit, some critics accuse him of "having no weapons". It might not be wise to suggest that to poor Stepanek. If the Czech approached the net, he was passed. If he stayed on the baseline, he was bamboozled by the pace and accuracy of Hewitt's groundstrokes. By the end he looked shell-shocked.

Hewitt's response to dropping those first two games was to reel off five in succession. Having pocketed the opening set, Hewitt moved to an even higher gear. From 2-2 in the second set Stepanek did not collect another game. As Hewitt marched on, conceding just seven points in a hopelessly one-sided third set, someone in the crowd jokingly demanded their money back. There is more of this to come, most immediately against Younes El Aynaoui in the fourth round.

And, ominously for the 31-year-old Moroccan, Hewitt said afterwards: "I feel I am getting better and better with each match. The last few Slams I have been able to play my best tennis towards the end rather than at the start. Now is the time to step it up another gear."

Hewitt and the second-seeded Andre Agassi are the only two men left who have previously won a Grand Slam title, and though the field is getting thin on leading seeds it is not short of talent and character. There were smiles on American faces as their bright new hopes, Andy Roddick and James Blake, defeated Spanish opposition to reach the second week of the Australian for the first time. Roddick saw off Fernando Vicente 6-2 6-3 6-2 in 79 minutes and pronounced himself very satisfied: "I'm glad to get on and off court pretty quickly and save the legs a little bit."

Blake dropped his first set of the tournament before putting away Alberto Martin 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-2 and explained the slight stutter on being "jittery" as well as awestruck on his debut in the main stadium, the Rod Laver Arena.

The possibility of another American tennis dynasty to rival Agassi and Pete Sampras was, in Roddick's opinion, just a matter of time. "But," he acknowledged, "it's nice to get it earlier rather than later." He remains a realist, however: "I am playing better, not so hit-and-miss as I was, and I am actually breaking serve with some regularity. But I don't think I have taken the step to flawless yet, far from it."

Next, Roddick faces Russia's Davis Cup-winning hero, Mikhail Youzhny, who eliminated the seventh seed, Jiri Novak, 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-2 and offered this explanation: "Novak had many mistakes, not like usually." Whatever, but the result is a good form pointer ahead of next month's Davis Cup first-round tie between the holders and the Czech Republic. Russia may need an in-form Youzhny, with Safin's participation in doubt. The 2002 Australian runner-up damaged his wrist during a first- round match against Raemon Sluiter. A torn ligament was diagnosed and though he got through another round with the aid of an injection, the third-seeded Safin was unable to hold a racket yesterday without pain.

Philosophical as ever, he said: "To fly here for 24 hours and leave without any success isn't really good. But that's life. Now I get some vacation, which is good for me because last season was a long one." At which, Safin was off on his favourite tack, the number of injuries in his profession. "Tennis is becoming too physical. Because the level is so high, the players' bodies can't cope any more."

Malisse would concur with that comment. The much-anticipated rerun of his 2002 Wimbledon semi-final against the 10th-seeded Nalbandian ended disappointingly for him: "I played too much after two months off and it has caught up with me. My arm started hurting and it just got worse and worse."

Now Nalbandian, an adventurous exception to the army of Argentine baseliners, faces the sixth seed, Switzerland's Roger Federer, who is the highest-rated opponent left in Hewitt's half of the draw. Federer had a comfortable 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over the last remaining qualifier, Andreas Vinciguerra, the Swedish son of an Italian pizza-parlour owner in Malmo. "I'm happy with my performance," said Federer. With Hewitt as a possible semi-final opponent, this is just as well.