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SINGLE-MINDEDNESS OF PURPOSE: Qualifier Alex Kim of the United States signals his straight-sets victory over fourth-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday. - Reuters

MELBOURNE, JAN. 16. This is another kind of home-sickness. Surely, not the familiar variety. For, these are men who are not sick for home, but possibly sick of home.

This is their coliseum, their backyard. And, led by what you were told was a modern-day gladiator who grew up on the Rocky soundtrack to conquer the world with a pair of feet that could match a Porsche on over-drive, nine of them were let loose on the visiting foreigners. And, after a mere two rounds of combat, not one of them is left standing.

Welcome, then, to the 2002 Australian Open-sorry, read that Australian Closed-tennis championship.

As the last Great Aussie Hope-Mark Philippoussis-a giant who has chosen to remain a dwarf in terms of his achievements, packed his bags on Wednesday at the Rod Laver Arena, beaten 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-4 in the second round by a man nicknamed The Joker, Greg Rusedski of Britain, Australian tennis fans had very little to smile about. The demise of Aussie tennis here was not a joke anymore, it was official.

It is the first time in the history of this championship in the Open Era (since 1968) that there is no man left to Advance Australia Fair in the third round. And the last time that Australia did not have a male player in the third round of any Grand Slam championship was at the 1989 U.S. Open.

With Lleyton Hewitt, Gustavo Kuerten and Andre Agassi out of the championship, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the fourth seed, and Sebastien Grosjean, the fifth seed, followed them quickly today.

One of the worst matches

Kafelnikov, champion here in 1999 and runner-up to Agassi the following year, played one of the worst matches of his Grand Slam career on day when an inspired Korean- American, Alex Kim, a qualifier with a career prize money that wouldn't be enough to fuel the Russian's jet back to Moscow, came up with some relentlessly attacking tennis from the back of the court. Kim won the second round match 6-3, 7-5, 6-3.

It was Kafelnikov's first defeat here before the quarterfinal stage of the championship and for Kim, a Stanford University graduate ranked No. 234, the finest victory of his career.

Kim's spectacular triumph was fuelled by a Michael Chang-like single-mindedness of purpose. Covering the court with tremendous speed and agility and hitting audacious groundstrokes from the back of the court, Kim never lost control of the match.

Kafelnikov did fight back from 1-4 in the second set to 5-5 but the Korean-American hit a superb forehand winner and then forced a backhand error from his Russian opponent to break for the second set in the 12th game.

In the third, Kim was off to a great start, leading 3- 0 and from there he never looked back, serving out the match in the ninth game, finishing his business in quick time compared to Francisco Clavet of Spain, who outlasted the fifth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.

Expectations belied

Meanwhile, for all the hype that preceded it, the Rusedski-Philippoussis contest never matched expectations. The anticipated explosive struggle between two red- hot servers did promise much in the first set but turned out to be a huge disappointment the moment Philippoussis first lost serve when serving for the first set in the ninth game.

From there, it was one way for the most part. While Rusedski played smart tennis, serving as well as he can and trying to keep the ball in play on the Australian's service games, Philippoussis once again fell far too short on the big stage.

When seriously challenged, the big bronzed Greek- Australian tends to back away. In the event, once Rusdeski staved off a setpoint to win the first set tiebreak, there niggled in the subconscious depths of Philippoussis's mind a hundred self- doubts.

While in the first set, he was camping at the net, after losing it Philippoussis approached the fore court with great hesitation and even when he did, his volleying was shaky, at best. The mistakes revealed a streak of fragility not entirely conquered.

Rusedski broke the last Australian challenger's serve in the eighth game of the second set, held with two aces in the next, and then opened up with a 3-0 lead with two breaks. He did hand one back but kept his nerve to close out the match without fuss.

Ivanisevic crashes out

Late at night, in keeping with the theme of the tournament, unseeded Jerome Golmard of France upset the Wimbledon champion and 10th seed, Goran Ivanisevic, 6-3, 7-6 (7- 2), 5-7, 6-4 in the second round.

Important results: men's singles (second round): 16-Thomas Johansson (Swe) bt Markus Hipfl (Aut) 6-4, 6-1, 6-4; 6-Tim Henman (GBR) bt Vladimir Voltchkov (Blr) 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; 12-Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Ramon Delgado (Par) 6-2, 7-5, 6-7, 6-4; Francisco Clavet (Esp) bt 5-Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 5-7, 6- 4; Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) bt Albert Portas (Esp) 6-1, 6-3, 6-0; Taylor Dent (USA) bt Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Greg Rusedski (GBR) bt Mark Philippoussis (Aus) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, 6-4; Alex Kim (USA) bt 4-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; Jerome Golmard (Fra) bt 10-Goran Ivanisevic (Cro) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-4.

Women's singles (second round): 1-Venus Williams (USA) bt Kristina Brandi (U.S.) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Martina Hingis (Sui) bt Greta Arn (Ger) 6-1, 6-2; 8-Monica Seles (U.S.) bt Cara Black (Zim) 6-1, 6-1; 15-Amanda Coetzer (RSA) bt Rossana Los Rios (Par) 6-3, 6-1; 13-Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Kveta Hrdickova (Cze) 6-4, 7-5; 11-Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) bt Jennifer Hopkins (U.S.) 6-2, 6-0.

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