Woodies advance past Indian guile

Venus Williams mounted a late attempt to steal the show as she cruised to the quarter-finals with her 29th straight win. But, while the American's 6-2, 6-2 win over the German Jana Kandarr was well received, the audience saved their most rapturous applause for their own Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.

The "Woodies" beat the Indian pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi 6-3, 7-6 to reach the quarter-finals. Woodforde, due to retire at the end of the year, turns 35 today and the Australians celebrated the upcoming event in style, easily overcoming the 1999 Wimbledon champions.

The Woodies' path to a second consecutive Olympic gold looked to be made easier when the second seeds Alex O'Brien and Jared Palmer went out in the second round, defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Mark Knowles and Mark Merklein of the Bahamas.

It has been a disastrous Olympics for the American men who arrived with high hopes despite Pete Sampras's voluntary absence and the withdrawal of Andre Aggasi due to family illness.

Yesterday Jeff Tarango joined Todd Martin, Michael Chang and Vince Spadea in crashing out of the games. Tarango, famous for his tempestuous outbursts, lost 6-2, 6-3 to the Argentine Mariano Zabaleta, ensuring that America's hopes now lie firmly with the women.