Martina Hingis rolled back the years to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday while Mary Pierce was left feeling her age after being dumped from the first Grand Slam of the year.
Hingis thrashed Finland's Emma Laine 6-1, 6-1 to reach the third round of a draw starting to open up nicely after 31-year-old Pierce led a procession of seeded women to the exit.
Pierce was sent packing by unseeded Czech Iveta Benesova 6-3, 7-5, joining Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Gisela Dulko, Marion Bartoli and Anna-Lena Groenefeld on the seeded casualty list.
World number two Kim Clijsters was lucky not to join them after battling a painful hip injury in her 6-4, 6-2 win over Chinese qualifier Yuan Meng.
The reigning U.S. Open champion appeared to be on the verge of quitting when she called for a break as the pain became unbearable, but played on in agony.
"I'm happy with the win but my body doesn't feel too good at the moment," she said. "(But) as long as it doesn't get worse, I'll fight until I'm done."
There was even more drama off the court on Thursday when reports surfaced from Serbia that Damir Dokic was threatening to kidnap his estranged daughter Jelena as revenge for her decision to return to Australia.
He later denied the reports but Jelena released a statement saying he had threatened her before.
"I have spent my life recovering from events such as this," she said. "I have not spoken to my father for a number of years and we do not agree on anything."
UPSIDE DOWN
Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko recovered from a slow start to beat American Kevin Kim 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 while sixth seed Guillermo Coria wore down Italy's Federico Luzzi 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 to become the third Argentine man through to the third round, joining David Nalbandian and Gaston Gaudio.
The only seeded men to lose on Thursday were Belgian Olivier Rochus, who lost in five sets to Australian wildcard Peter Luczak, and Spain's Fernando Verdasco, who fell to Belgian Kristof Vliegen.
While Pierce said her farewells and Clijsters limped on, third seed Amelie Mauresmo had an easy day, chalking up a 7-6, 6-2 win over her fellow Frenchwoman Emilie Loit to set up a third round meeting with Japan's Akio Nakamura, the last remaining Asian player in the tournament.
Hingis beat Pierce in the 1997 Australian Open final when the then 16-year-old Swiss won the first of her three Melbourne Park titles.
Injuries forced her to retire in 2002 but she launched a comeback this year, defying her critics by beating Russian Vera Zvonareva in the opening round then winning again on Thursday to leave the tantalising prospect of no more seeded players standing between her and the quarter-finals.
