Local hero crashes out of Open
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Mark Philippoussis played off the court, failing to reach the last 16 of the Australian Open.
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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Australia's latest tennis hero, Mark Philippoussis, has crashed out of the Australian Open in straight sets.
He was smashed on Monday 6-2 6-2 6-4 by the Moroccan Hichman Arazi, who goes on to play Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinals.
Arazi beat the Australian in every facet of the match, making Philippoussis look lackluster in his effort to reach the final eight.
Philippoussis put no pressure on the Arazi serve and made numerous unforced errors, despite the fact he had 70 percent of his first serves in the opening two sets of the match.
The big-serving Australian hit only eight aces in the match on Center Court, which was enough only to equal Arazi's brace of aces.
Earlier, David Nalbandian demolished fellow Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-4 6-2 6-1 Monday to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the second year running.
Spanish third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Andrei Pavel 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. He will play Arazi.
Nalbandian, seeded eighth, cruised to victory in just 104 minutes to continue his great run of form in the tournament so far.
The former Wimbledon finalist has not dropped a single set in his four matches to date while Canas was unable to repeat his heroic effort in the third round when he beat Tim Henman in an epic five setter.
Nalbandian now faces Swiss Roger Federer who came from behind to shock Lleyton Hewitt 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-4.
