2005 Australian Open - Day #6
By Eleanor Preston  |  January 22, 2005

Lleyton Hewitt may be the centre of attention at this year’s Australian Open but he will have to share the limelight if his friend and countrywoman Alicia Molik can beat Venus Williams in the their fourth round clash.
 
Molik’s progress through the draw has been the highlight in a women’s event so far devoid of matches worthy of the description, for while Australia has long been able to boast world class male players – Hewitt, Patrick Rafter, Pat Cash and messrs Woodbridge and Woodforde – it has failed to produce any female champions. Now they have a player, in Molik, who is inside the Top 20 and set to go higher.
 
“We were destined to meet, I guess,” said Williams before trying to remind Molik who she thinks ought to be boss. “This will be a huge match for her in Australia. I've played a lot of huge matches in my life. I think definitely the crowd will be supporting Alicia but I would imagine they'll be fair on the good shots. I've played in front of all kinds of crowds before. In the end, I just am more or less looking at the ball.”
 
Williams will need to keep her eyes peeled when Molik serves, for that is often the Aussie’s real weapon, when it’s allied to her keen volleying skills then she can be more than a handful.
 
“I haven't seen her developing and I haven't been following her progress necessarily but she's close to being in the Top 10. That's really awesome for her. I can tell she's probably very motivated by that.”
 
Molik looked impressive in beating Tatiana Panova 6-3, 6-1 and given that Williams hasn’t progressed past the quarterfinals of a grand slam since Wimbledon 2003, she should have little to fear.
 
“It’ll be a big challenge. We played in Dubai in 2004 and I got near enough,” she said. “I was pretty disappointed in losing to her there because I had a lot of opportunities which I didn’t take advantage of. I feel like I’m in the right position to give it a good go. It’s going to be a good match and I’m really looking forward to it. Venus is a great player with plenty of good shots I’ve no doubt it’ll be played at a very, very high level.”
 
The match will certainly be a step up in class for Williams after a routine win over Anna Smashnova in the third round. The Israeli is a pedigree player but her moonballing was never going to trouble Williams for long. Molik will be a different matter.
 
Lindsay Davenport will watch the outcome with interest, as will Elena Dementieva after both women earned themselves places in the last 16 and are in the same section of the draw. Davenport beat Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-4 and Dementieva squeaked past a resurgent Daniela Hantuchova in three. Anastasia Myskina is also through after being handed a walkover by an injured Lisa Raymond.
 
In the men’s game Hewitt got past Juan Ignacio Chela in four sets but there was a heavy and somewhat shocking defeat for seventh seed Tim Henman, who put in a dismal performance to lose 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to Nikolay Davydenko. The rout was Henman’s most one-sided loss in nearly a decade and got the Englishman’s season off to the worst possible start.
 
He and Carlos Moya remain the biggest names to have exited the tournament during the first week, although Juan Carlos Ferrero may still just about count in that category. The man ranked No.1 in the world less than a year and a half ago lost in straight sets to Guillermo Coria, a result which will see his ranking fall outside of the world’s top 50.

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