UPSET: Another young player who felt the burden of pressure was Amelie Mauresmo who was upset in straight sets on Wednesday. Patty Schnyder is a dangerous floater in any tournament draw and for Mauresmo to draw Schnyder was a little unlucky, if not a little coincidental (Mauresmo and Schnyder played in the second round of the Australian Open last year, with Mauresmo upsetting the then seeded Schnyder in three sets). Mauresmo felt the pressure of living up to the expectation of being the favourite for the tournament. She was the form player, having beaten Hingis and Davenport in consecutive matches last week in Sydney. While she was third behind the top two seeds in the betting stakes, she really was looking like the best player in the draw after a stellar Sydney opener. It wasn't to be as Mauresmo fell to the pressure of being the favourite with an inconsistent performance, laden with unforced errors. Bad for Mauresmo, good for Schnyder, who has been in dire need of some luck after a disastrous 1999 campaign. Other seeds to have fallen include 5th seed Nathalie Tauziat, 14th seed Dominique van Roost and 15th seed Anke Huber.
INTRIGUE: Hingis and Davenport still look to be favourites to reach the semi finals from their respective quarters. However, with Serena Williams' incredibly shaky performance on Tuesday night and Amelie Mauresmo's upset, the draw is still wide open for others to take the limelight. Serena Williams would still be favourite to reach the semis from her quarter, albeit not a strong favourite, but with the rustiness she displayed on Rod Laver arena, she could fall prey to a quality players like Chanda Rubin or Sabine Appelmans in the third round. In fact, if she kept playing the way she played on Tuesday against say Conchita Martinez or Amanda Coetzer (the seeds she could face in the quarter finals), she would find herself whipped badly against the consistent and heavily topspun game of either player. From the section which Mauresmo looked to dominate, it seems that 4th seed Pierce has a better chance of living up to her seeding and reaching the semi finals but will have some tough opposition if she is to progress that far. A fourth round match could find her against Ai Sugiyama, a player who upset her twice in 1999. If she gets through that, she could face Jennifer Capriati, someone she has not even won a set against in three matches, or the dangerous suddenly in-form Patty Schnyder in the quarter finals.
