Rafter Falls At Aussie Hardcourt

January 9, 1999 / 1:03 AM EST / AP

Ten days before the start of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the season, two-time U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter was bounced out of the Australian Men's Hardcourt tournament.

Rafter lost a rain-delayed second-round match 7-5, 6-4 to Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic Friday.

"I was a little sluggish," Rafter said. "When I'm not moving well, I don't play well. Slava played well. He has been doing a lot more work than I have."

Rafter, ranked No. 4 in the world, will play in the Adidas International next week at Sydney.

"I need to put some good work in before the Australian," he said. "I'm probably not in the best shape I've ever been in. I've got some work to do."

After eliminating Rafter, Dosedel lost his quarterfinal match to defending champion Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Earlier, Hewitt beat Czech Jiri Novak 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-4 in the completion of a suspended match.

Next for Hewitt is Jason Stoltenberg, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Byron Black.

In other quarterfinals, second-seeded Thomas Enqvist beat Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 6-4 and Scott Draper defeated Michael Tebbutt 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

In the Australian women's hardcourt, Mary Pierce defeated Irina Spirlea 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the final. She will face Patty Schnyder in Saturday's championship match. Schnyder beat defending champion Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

"It'll be a tough match," Pierce said. "I've played her a few times, but lately she's been playing well."

At the Hopman Cup, Sweden reached the final for the first time, defeating Switzerland 2-1.

After Swiss Martina Hingis defeated Asa Carlsson 6-2, 6-2 for her 10th straight singles victory in the competition, Jonas Bjorkman defeated Ivo Heuberger 6-2, 6-0. Then Bjorkman teamed with Carlsson to win the decisive doubles match, beating Hingis and Heuberger 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Bjorkman and Carlsson will face Australia's Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic in Saturday's championship. The Australians advanced Thursday with a 2-1 victory over France.

In the other match, Americans Lindsay Davenport and Jan-Michael Gambill beat Slovakia's Karina Habsudova and Karol Kucera 3-0.

Davenport, ranked No. 1 in the world, beat Habsudova 6-4, 6-2, Gambill edged Kucera 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, and the Americans won the doubles 7-5, 6-3.

In the Qatar Open, third-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov was eliminated in the second round by Hicham Arazi 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (12-10).

Other second-round winners were Mariano Zabaleta, Karim Alami and seventh-seeded Cedric Pioline.

At the Auckland Women's Classic, defending champion Dominique Van Roost advanced to the final, defeating fourth-seeded Barbara Schett 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Van Roost, the top seed, will face third-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis, who beat second-seeded Silvia Farina 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

At the Super-Power Challenge Cup in Hong Kong, Venus Williams and Steffi Graf won their semifinal mathes. Williams defeated Anna Kournikova 6-4, 6-3, while Graf overpowered Williams' sister, Serena Williams, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).