Pierce Bounced Out At Aussie Open

A walkabout Down Under is an aimless trek to nowhere, and Mary Pierce’s tennis version of it todayended her reign as Australian Open champion.

She wandered around the court as if she had no idea what to do, slugged shots that would have been wide in doubles, didn’t bother chasing balls two steps away.

It all came crashing down on the fourth-seeded Pierce in a 6-4, 6-4 second-round loss to Elena Likhovtseva, a Russian ranked No. 51.

“I’m shocked,” Pierce’s coach, Nick Bollettieri, said. “For Mary not to do anything is unbelievable.”

There was nothing sloppy about the play of the men’s top seed, Pete Sampras, who closed out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win with his 20th ace against fellow American Michael Joyce.

Pierce wasn’t the only seed to lose. No. 5 Kimiko Date fell to Japanese compatriot Mana Endo 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

No. 8 Anke Huber of Germany beat Asa Carlsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2; American Lindsay Davenport, No. 10, beat Australian Rennae Stubbs 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; and No. 11 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy beat ShiTing Wang 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

In men’s matches, No. 6 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia beat Spain’s Alex Corretja 6-1, 6-2, 6-3; No. 7 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden beat Romania’s Adrian Voinea 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 and Aussie Mark Philippoussis beat Israel’s Eyal Ran 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. American MaliVai Washington, ranked 21st, ousted No. 12 Arnaud Boetsch of France 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.