Melbourne, Australia — Sebastien Grosjean tumbled out of the Australian Open with an unsightly run of unforced errors, leaving only one remaining top-five seed in contention.
Spain's Francisco Clavet beat the fifth-seeded Frenchman 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 Wednesday after Grosjean rallied from 1-4 deficit to tie it at 4 in the final set.
Grosjean had 68 unforced errors and allowed both of Clavet's match points on misses before the 51st-ranked Spaniard ended it with an overhead shot.
The second round began without the top three seeds the first time that ever has happened in a Grand Slam event. No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, still weak from chicken pox, and No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten both lost. No. 3 Andre Agassi, the 2000 and 2001 champion, withdrew because of a wrist injury before the tournament began.
Grosjean was a semifinalist last year in the Australian and French Opens and runner-up to Hewitt in the season-ending Masters Cup. But on Wednesday, he was able to convert only seven of his 14 break points.
The highest remaining seeds are No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the 1999 Australian winner and 2000 runner-up, and No. 6 Tim Henman, who beat Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Henman has reached the semifinals at Wimbledon three times, but never gone beyond the fourth round at any other Grand Slam event.
Pete Sampras, who has won a men's record 13 Grand Slam events, is seeded eighth, but is gaining as a favorite.
Britain's Greg Rusedski came back from 1-4 in the first set to beat Australia's Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (7), 6-3, 6-4 in a battle of big servers. Philippoussis, who reached No. 8 in 1999, is coming back from knee surgery after missing most of last year.
His exit meant the tournament is without an Australian in the third round for the first time in the Open Era. The 1989 U.S. Open was the last Grand Slam event without an Aussie in the third round.
One of the day's fastest winners was Taylor Dent, who advanced with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra, another promising 20-year-old who reached the fourth round last year.
Dent's big serve and aggressive net play showed why both the Australian and U.S. Davis Cup teams are interested in the American whose father, Phil, was once Australia's top player.
"It's definitely flattering," Dent said.
Dent said he's leaning toward playing for the United States, but is putting off a decision because "I need to get better first."
Because of his links to Australia, Dent was given a wild-card entry despite finishing last year at No. 116 in the world rankings after a back injury in the U.S. Open.
Against Vinciguerra, Dent chipped and charged against every one of the Swede's second serves and broke him six times. Dent served at up to 132 mph, but said he's holding back slightly while caring for his back with icing and stretching.
"Everything else I'm going 100 percent," he said. "Hopefully I can keep raising my level as the tournament goes on."
At Wimbledon, he had the fastest record serve of the year 144 mph and forced current No. 1 Hewitt into five sets before losing in the second round.
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