Tennis: Hewitt advances as Russians storm Melbourne

MELBOURNE- Lleyton Hewitt charged into the fourth round of the Australian Open on Saturday after overcoming Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2 4-6 6-1 6-4 in a spiteful match.

Tensions threatened to boil over in the fourth set when Chela became irritated by Hewitt's antics whenever he won a big point.

Chela appeared to spit in Hewitt's direction when the pair changed ends but there was no warning from the umpire and the players shook hands at the end of the match.

"I don't know if there was any more tension," said Hewitt, who set up a last 16 showdown with Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal.

"I think we're obviously both very competitive."

The drama overshadowed Nikolay Davydenko destroying Tim Henman's Australian Open campaign and the Russians continued assault on the first grand slam of the year.

Henman surrendered 6-4 6-2 6-2 in a little over two hours allowing Davydenko to join a procession of Russians through to the fourth round in Melbourne.

Six Russians booked their places in the fourth round on Friday and another three joined them on Saturday giving them a total of nine, including seven women, in the last 16.

French Open champion Anastasia Myskina got a free-ride when her American opponent, Lisa Raymond, withdrew from their match with a stomach muscle injury.

"I'm happy to be in the next round but that's not the way you like to win," Myskina said.

Elena Dementieva, the French and US Open runner-up, wore down Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 7-5 5-7 6-4 in a rollercoaster match that lasted almost three hours and featured 13 service breaks.

Five Americans are through to the fourth round after Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport all won in straight sets, joining Friday's winners Andre Agassi and Serena Williams.

Venus beat Israel's Anna Smashnova 6-3 6-0, second seed Roddick slammed his way past Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-2 6-2 7-5 and world number one Davenport defeated Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 6-4.

Argentina were also celebrating after three of their four players advanced. David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Guillermo Canas all won but Chela's loss to Hewitt ruined their perfect day.

While it has been over a quarter of a century since an Australian has won either the men's or women's singles title, the home nation is still in the running for both titles this year after Alicia Molik beat Tatina Panova to join Hewitt in the second week.

"You can't win a grand slam in the first week but you can definitely lose it," Hewitt said.

"I'm through to the second week of the tournament and this is the business end."

Henman was the biggest casualty on day six of the hardcourt grand slam.

The seventh-seeded Briton was an overwhelming favourite to beat Davydenko but failed to mount any real challenge, continuing a history of poor performances at the major tournaments.

"I feel totally gutted," he said. "My expectations were obviously for a lot more and that hasn't materialised."

Roddick, last year's Wimbledon runner-up, fired 22 aces past Melzer to wrap up victory in just 95 minutes. He will play Philipp Kohlschreiber next after the German beat Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 7-5 6-3 6-2.

"I think I got better and better as the match went on," Roddick said.

"It doesn't seem easy to me, you're always thinking that it could slip away. All it could take is losing one service game and you're in a fourth set."

Venus, the former world number one, romped into the second week in exactly an hour despite making 26 unforced errors against Smashnova.

Looking for her first grand slam title since 2001, Venus plays Molik in the next round after the rising Australian beat Panova 6-3 6-2.

Davenport drew on her wealth of experience to overcome Vaidisova and advance to a meeting with 13th seed Karolina Sprem.

The 28-year-old American top seed was pushed hard by the precociously talented 15-year-old Czech before her greater experience proved crucial as she clinched victory.

Argentina are already assured of at least one player in the quarter-finals after Nalbandian and Coria were drawn to play each other in the fourth round.

Nalbandian beat Chile's Olympic doubles champion Fernando Gonzalez while Coria beat Spain's former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-2 6-1. Canas thrashed Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-2 6-2 and plays Davydenko next.

- REUTERS