MELBOURNE, Australia, 22 January 2005 — Russia took center stage at the Australian Open yesterday, with Marat Safin reaching the men’s fourth round as Wimbledon queen Maria Sharapova and four compatriots advanced to the last 16.

Fourth-seeded Safin, last year’s beaten finalist, overcame an injury scare in his tie with Croatian 28th seed Mario Ancic before clinching a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in 2hr 45min.

The 24-year-old two-time finalist twisted his right ankle awkwardly in the fourth set but recovered well to wrap up an ultimately convincing win and go through to a contest with Belgium’s Olivier Rochus tomorrow.

An injury to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen made life easier for world No. 1 and favorite Roger Federer in another third round tie.

Defending champion Federer was handed his 24th consecutive victory — a winning streak that stretches back to August last year — when Nieminen retired with a stomach muscle injury while trailing 6-3, 5-2.

Four-time champion Andre Agassi, seeded eight, defeated American compatriot Taylor Dent with a near-flawless exhibition against the 29th seed in a night match on center court.

Agassi committed only six unforced errors on his way to a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 (7 3), 6-1 win in 1hr 52min.

Agassi said he was fully recovered from a hip injury which had dogged his preparations, and he showed no sign of it against Dent as he scampered around the court with a verve that belied his 34 years.

Agassi now faces Sweden’s Joachim Johansson, who downed Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in an epic duel lasting just under 4hrs.

Johansson clinched a nip-and-tuck battle in the 24th game of the fifth set, winning 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7 2), 13-11, securing victory with his 38th ace of the night.

In other men’s games, Slovakia’s 20th seed Dominik Hrbaty edged a gruelling five-setter against 10th seeded French Open champion Gaston Gaudio, digging in for a 7-6 (7 5), 6-7 (8 10), 6-7 (3 7), 6-1, 6-3 win in 4hr 21min.

Sharapova, 17, waltzed into the last 16 with a 6-0, 6-2 dismissal of China’s Li Na in 50 minutes and will now play Italy’s Silvia Farina Elia tomorrow.

Li, 22, the first Chinese woman to win a WTA Tour title, looked overawed throughout the first set as Sharapova, the ‘Queen of Scream’ sent down a stream of winners, often accompanied by loud shrieks and grunts.

Earlier, fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova downed Argentina’s Mariana Diaz-Oliva 6-3, 7-6 (7 5) to join compatriots Vera Douchevina, Evgenia Linetskaya and 11th seed Nadia Petrova in the next round.

With four more players in the top half of the draw playing today, Russia could have an astonishing nine representatives in the last 16.

But Kuznetsova, who has been at the center of a drugs storm this week after testing positive for the stimulant ephedrine at an exhibition in Belgium last month, will want to improve on her showing against world No. 101 Diaz-Oliva.

Unseeded Douchevina swept aside Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5, 6-4 and looked in confident form.

Linetskaya, meanwhile, produced the upset of the round, the 18-year-old world No. 93 stunning 21st seed Amy Frazier of the United States 6-3, 6-4.

Her reward will be a showdown with world No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo, who maintained her dreams of a first-ever grand slam with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 17-year-old Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

Petrova will face women’s favourite and former world No. 1 Serena Williams in the next round. Williams snuffed out the fairytale run of Indian teenager Sania Mirza with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Mirza had sparked excitement in her homeland, dubbed ‘Sania Mania’ by local press after becoming the first Indian woman to reach the third round of a grand slam event. But she found Williams too hot to handle.