Australian Open Round-up: It was a day packed with impressive performances at the Australian Open, with top players Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Nadia Petrova and Maria Sharapova all advancing to the quarter-finals of the women's singles.
Petrova, the powerful Russian, breezed through to the quarters with a 6-3 6-1 victory over compatriot Elena Vesnina, the tournament's sixth seed dominating from the outset and racing away to a strong first-set lead.
The world number seven broke her opponent's opening service game but could not capitalise as Vesnina broke straight back.
However, Petrova soon took the upper hand when she broke Vesnina's serve in the sixth game, going on to claim the set. The second set quickly became a one-sided affair as the in-form Russian put her foot down to cruise home.
Meanwhile, top seed Davenport also had an easy run to the quarter-finals with an emphatic 6-2 6-4 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in hot conditions. The American star needed just 18 minutes to churn out the first set, and 40 minutes later had wrapped up the convincing victory in 40 degrees Celsius temperatures.
The only concern for Davenport heading into the quarter-finals will be an ankle injury that required treatment mid-way through the second set.
Fourth seed Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, managed to oust Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets, 6-4 6-4. The young Russian was pushed by Hantuchova, but in the end broke five times to three to prevail.
Again it was a day of easy victories for the seeds as Henin-Hardenne made light work of Virginia Ruano Pascual. The Belgian had little trouble setting up a two-set, 6-0 6-3 victory over the struggling Spaniard to book a quarter-finals berth against Davenport.
The eighth seed rocketed away to an emphatic one-set lead and victory followed shortly after as she wrapped up the second set easily as well.
Men's Draw: There was an upset in the men's race with American ace Andy Roddick crashing out at the fourth round stage to unseeded Marcos Baghdatis.
The second seed was beaten 6-4 1-6 6-3 6-4 by the 20-year-old Cypriot who is a former junior world champion.
Roddick, who was considered the only player likely to stop Roger Federer's charge to the title, looked in disarray as his opponent ran him ragged around the court.
With the outside temperature in Melbourne climbing to a sweltering 42 degrees Celsius, the match was played with the roof closed at the Rod Laver Arena.
"Credit to him, if you look at his stats they're pretty impressive," Roddick said. "The shots he was able to come up with were very, very good.
"I just thought maybe I was a little bit spacy out there. Maybe I just wasn't totally on top of things. I think I would have beaten most people today. But let's give credit where credit's due. I thought he played a very good match."
Argentine David Nalbandian cantered through to the quarter-finals with an emphatic 6-3 6-0 2-6 6-2 victory over Tommy Robredo.
Played out in blistering conditions on Vodafone Arena it was the tournament's fourth seed who turned on a sensational performance to trounce the Spaniard in four gruelling sets.
Nalbandian fired from the outset and before long had his opponent's service game broken as the Argentine waltzed his way through to a 6-3 first set lead.
The world nuymber four soon consolidated this with a ruthless 6-0 culling in the second set.
However, Robredo was not to be beaten easily and the Spaniard managed to claw his way back into the match with a 6-2 win in the third set.
But Nalbandian soon bounced back and quickly wrapped up the match with a 6-2 trouncing in the fourth set.