Tennis: Two former champs charge into last eight of Australian Open

MELBOURNE - Former champions Martina Hingis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov marched through the fourth round of the Australian Open tennis championships yesterday, but play was marred by a security scare when a flare was thrown on court during Anna Kournikova's doubles match.

Kafelnikov, winner in Melbourne in 1999 and runner-up last year, blasted past Swede Andreas Vinciguerra 7-5 7-5 6-1. Hingis, three times Australian Open champion, was merciless in a 6-0 6-3 demolition of unseeded Italian Rita Grande.

The Swiss top seed has reached the Australian Open final for the past four years but this time will probably have to beat both Serena and Venus Williams to reach that stage again.

Hingis will meet 1999 US Open winner Serena in the quarter-finals after the younger of the Williams sisters beat Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic 6-2 6-2.

Big sister Venus then beat 1999 Australian champion Amelie Mauresmo 6-2 3-6 6-3. She will play Amanda Coetzer after the 10th-seeded South African beat Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-1 6-4.

Frenchman Arnaud Clement ended British hopes in the tournament when he routed Greg Rusedski 6-3 6-2 7-5. Former US Open runner-up Rusedski had downed top seed Gustavo Kuerten in the second round but was unable to reproduce that form against the flashy Frenchman, who is seeded 15th.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested but later released after a bright orange flare was thrown on to court one during Kournikova's doubles match, the tournament's second security breach in two years.

The flare was thrown from the stands during a point in the first set of the match between Kournikova and her partner Barbara Schett against Japanese pair Shinobu Asagoe and Yuka Yoshida. No one was hurt.

"I was hitting the ball ... suddenly something just dropped in front of me," Kournikova said. Schett said "suddenly everything was orange" but added that neither she nor Kournikova were afraid.

"It wasn't a bomb or anything," the Austrian said. Play was interrupted for 12 minutes, the players retiring to courtside chairs while a tournament official painted over a scorch mark.

Kournikova and Schett dropped the first set but recovered after the incident to beat the Japanese pair 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Tournament spokeswoman Lysette Shaw said security had been reviewed after a man notorious for disrupting public events in Australia ran on to centre court dressed as a duck during last year's men's final.

Shaw said the latest incident had been referred to police, who would decide whether to charge the boy.

Kournikova said she was happy with the level of security provided by the tournament. "I think in general it's pretty good," she said. "You can never predict anything."

Kournikova, meanwhile, has been fined $US2000 ($4530) after being coached from the sideline during her fourth round win against Schett. The Russian teenager received a code violation during Sunday's match before the fine was imposed. A spokesman for the tournament referee Peter Bellenger said Kournikova's mother Alla had been calling out advice to her when she trailed 3-4 in the second set.

The 52nd-ranked Vinciguerra pushed 1999 Australian Open champion and 2000 runner-up Kafelnikov in the first two sets but succumbed on his own serve at crucial points and then weakened in the third set against the confident Russian. Kafelnikov will meet Clement in the quarter-finals after the Frenchman's surprisingly easy dismissal of Rusedski.

"I don't think I've seen him play a better match," Rusedski said afterwards. "He's so fast, I think he's the fastest man on tour right now and with footwork like that, he's going to play well."

Hingis and Serena Williams had few concerns as they brushed aside lesser opponents.

"It was all me. Whatever I did to the ball it was me missing or me making the points," Hingis said.

Sixth seed Serena Williams has not lost a set in her first four matches, dropping just 19 games on her way to her first Australian Open quarter-finals.

Former world No 1 Carlos Moya swept aside Rainer Schuettler 7-6 6-3 6-4 to take his place in the last eight.

Moya, who has slumped to 42nd in the world rankings after a back injury almost ruined his career, advanced to his first grand slam quarter-final since the 1998 US Open.