Schuettler dumped out by Swede

Sixth seed Rainer Schuettler was sensationally dumped out of the Australian Open by Swedish teenager Robin Soderling today as the opening Grand Slam of the year began in a whirl of action.

Schuettler was the surprise finalist last year, beating Andy Roddick in the semi-finals before losing to Andre Agassi, but has been in rotten form so far this season.

The German has not won a match in 2004 and surrendered a two set lead to Soderling, going down 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 on the Rod Laver Arena.

“I have had a pretty tough three weeks now. I started in Doha, Sydney and now here. I didn’t win a match,” he said.

“Today I was two sets up and had break point at 5-5. I played the wrong shot. It’s very disappointing of course.

“I had great memories from last year and there was a bit of pressure, but that is not the reason why I didn’t win.”

Three time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten was also pushed the distance, but the Brazilian held on for a dramatic 5-7 6-0 6-1 2-6 8-6 victory over John van Lottum.

Frenchman Arnaud Clement, seeded 30, also lost a two set lead, going down to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 4-6 1-6 2-6.

Carlos Moya, as was widely expected, pulled out of his first round match against James Blake with the ankle injury suffered in the Adidas International final against Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday.

“I tried to hit this morning. It was hurting a little bit. Then I came here, I got some treatment, tried again and then I realised that it was not possible for me to play,” he said.

“It has improved so much. Yesterday I couldn’t even walk. Today I was running. I was still in pain and maybe one more day it would have been perfect.”