Down Under duo face stern test
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Lleyton Hewitt faces a big test to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australia's big guns, Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippousis, face their sternest test in the Australian Open Monday night.
They both make their bid to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne, while favorites Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi hit the court 24 hours later.
Monday is a big celebration for Australia as it coincides with the national holiday.
Hewitt faces the Wimbledon champion and Swiss star Roger Federer, who has won only two of his 10 matches against the aggressive Australian.
Federer has been in great form during the first week of the Open, winning all his matches in straight sets.
Philippousis faces arguably an equally hard match, taking on the skilful and determined Moroccan Hichman Arazi.
The top four men's seeds – Roddick, Agassi, Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero -- are in awesome form. Only Ferrero has dropped a set.
Roddick will have to be on his best form with a clash against the unpredictable Russian Marat Safin in the first quarter-final Tuesday.
Safin is unseeded and has slumped to a world ranking of No.86 since his U.S. Open victory against Pete Sampras three years ago.
He has played Roddick only once, thrashing him 6-3 6-4.
Roddick recalled that clash in a post-match interview, saying: "We had similar games, but he was pretty much just better at everything then. A lot has changed since then, that was a long time ago."
Victory for world No.1 Roddick will put him on course for a highly anticipated semi-final clash against Agassi, who has taken his unbeaten run of matches at the Australian Open to 25.
Agassi confronts Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, whom he beat in straight sets at the same stage of the Australian Open last year.
"I feel like I've experienced every part of my game throughout this first week and I've liked the levels I've hit," said Agassi, who at 33 is the oldest player in the tournament.
Agassi has won three of his five matches against Grosjean, who has reached the quarter-final of a Grand Slam event on six previous occasions.
