Hewitt Sent Tumbling By Big-hitting Moroccan

Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui has knocked world No1 Lleyton Hewitt out of the Australian open with a shock 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory in the fourth round.

El Aynaoui, the 18th seed, sent the Wimbledon champion packing with a stunning victory in three-and-a-half hours. A quarter-finalist at the Australian Open three years ago, El Aynaoui rode his booming serve to victory, hitting 33 aces and 75 clean winners.

The first three sets were decided by tiebreaks after neither player was able to break the other's serve before the 31-year-old broke the Australian for the only time in the seventh game of the fourth set.

Hewitt had a chance to break back in the final game but slammed the ball into the net and allowed El Aynoui to regain his composure and serve out the match.

Hewitt was clearly devastated by the defeat.

"Yeah, disappointing... there's no other way of looking at it," the 21-year-old said. "It might make me a better player," he mused, still red in the face and searching for a positive.

El Aynaoui, by contrast, could not have looked more content, into the quarter-finals of a grand slam for only the third time in his 13-year career.

"I think this might be a surprise to most people, I mean how many people know me around the world? Not very many," he grinned.

"But people who know me would know I had a chance. I kept on believing I could do this."

The Moroccan now faces American Andy Roddick, who needed a mammoth effort to prevent him from becoming another casualty on a day so hot that play was suspended on the outside courts.

Fist-pumping and beating his chest like a crazed ape, Roddick battled back from two sets down to beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-7, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

The ninth-seeded American finally broke through when he forced the 25th seed into a wild backhand on his second set point at 6-5 in the third.

Another backhand error from Youzhny gave Roddick the key break in the fourth game of the fourth set as he wrestled the initiative back from his fellow 20-year-old, who had won both their previous meetings.

The American then pressed Youzhny into a loose forehand to break in the third game of the final set and fired down his 19th ace to consolidate for a 3-1 advantage.

The demoralised Russian surrendered his serve again in the next game and Roddick easily closed out the match to win in three hours and 14 minutes.