Goldstein Puts On a Show; Rafter Put Out By Enqvist

It was difficult to figure out whether qualifier Paul Goldstein was more entertaining during his four-set, second-round victory over eighth-seeded Brit Greg Rusedski or in the postmatch news conference at the Australian Open on Thursday.

A tough call, given these choices:

1--A flying and tumbling Goldstein practically bounced off the forgiving Rebound Ace surface several times and broke the formidable serve of Rusedski five times, winning, 6-4, 6-7 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, turning in the biggest victory of his fledgling professional career.

2--A wired Goldstein, 22, was buzzing with energy afterward, telling reporters: “Tennis is a fun game. You guys should all play. I expect you out there on the court.”

It wasn’t difficult to figure out today’s biggest upset: Second-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia lost to unseeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Goldstein, a Stanford graduate, joked about a couple of famous Stanford non-grads, Tiger Woods and John McEnroe.

On Woods: “My bank account is minuscule compared to Tiger, so it would be hard to compare myself to him.”

On McEnroe: “I think John McEnroe once said when he came [to Stanford], that summer he got into the semis at Wimbledon, and then he shows up on campus and he thinks all the women will be all over him and he left after a year because it was like, ‘I was nothing there.’ ”

Goldstein, ranked No. 187, has greatly improved since losing to Stanford teammate Bob Bryan in the NCAA final in May. He took a set off Pete Sampras at the U.S. Open and is one of five Americans remaining in the men’s field. In the third round, Goldstein will play Andrei Pavel of Romania.

Rusedski said Goldstein was probably one of the best players at handling his potent serve.

“I mean the guy challenged me every point,” Rusedski said. “He didn’t give me one single easy point today, and I just wasn’t up to the task of serving well enough today. He played a great match from the beginning to the end. The guy would run down everything.”

Said Goldstein: “I went in with a fair bit of confidence, and I tried not to think too much about the outcome of the match. I didn’t go in thinking, ‘God, I’m such a jerk if I lose this match.’ ”

There was one other significant upset in second-round action Thursday. Barbara Schett of Austria had little problem with fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, winning, 6-2, 6-2. Schett has been sharp lately, pushing Martina Hingis to three sets in the semifinals at Sydney last week.

Sanchez Vicario, the French Open champion, reached the quarterfinals here last year. She had not lost as early as in the second round in a Grand Slam event since Wimbledon in 1992.

“She hits the ball very well on both sides and you have to attack,” said Sanchez Vicario, who also lost to Schett in Sydney. “Probably with the wind I didn’t play many good shots. It was not my best day. I made a lot of errors. She’s definitely playing with a lot of confidence.”

Canadian qualifier Maureen Drake, who had never gone past the first round of a Grand Slam event, moved into the round of 16, defeating Sylvia Plischke of Austria, 6-2, 6-2.

Also in third-round play, fifth-seeded Venus Williams defeated Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, 6-3, 6-4. Only two of the four top-seeded women remain after third-seeded Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic lost, 6-3, 6-0, to Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain. Novotna had not played here since ’95. On the men’s side, seventh-seeded Karol Kucera of Slovakia beat Marat Safin of Russia, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Novotna was stunned by her performance, calling it a “total disaster.” She lost to the 65th-ranked Sanchez Lorenzo in 51 minutes, committing 33 unforced errors.

“I really don’t know what to say. I mean, it’s just 10 minutes after the match and I’m still in a state of shock, really not knowing what went wrong,” said Novotna, the 1998 Wimbledon champion. “It was just a nightmare. I couldn’t put a ball over the net.”

Sanchez Lorenzo had never gone past the second round of a Grand Slam, and now she is in the final 16 against 11th-seeded Dominique Van Roost of Belgium. “I went out to the court very calm,” she said. “Jana made a lot of unforced errors, especially with the forehand, so I took advantage of that.”

Novotna wasn’t the only player looking strangely out of sorts. Marc Rosset of Switzerland dispatched sixth-seeded Tim Henman of Great Britain in straight sets, winning, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-5, in the third round today.

Maybe Henman was unnerved by Rosset’s appearance. The 6-foot-7 Swiss star was unshaven, with his hair spraying every which way. And his game was wild too--as he hit 47 winners and 55 unforced errors.

“It’s difficult to play a guy like that,” Henman said. “When he’s in the lead, everything looks good for him, but as soon as I got back on level terms, it looked like his shoulder was going to drop off.”

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Anti-drug crusader Jim Courier said he wasn’t accusing the Europeans on the tour of blood doping or using the banned substance EPO (Erythropietin), the synthetic growth hormone. Courier sparked a furor over his remarks earlier in the week.

“I wasn’t pinpointing European players,” he said. “What I was saying is it appears that the sports science in Europe is a little more advanced than it is in America. That is not saying we don’t have the capability of cheating like anybody else.

“But it tends to be a little more prevalent over there. . . . I’ve said what I have thought. I have suspicions and they are just that. I didn’t say I have any confirmation. Of course, it has been blown out of proportion in the light of where we stand with Petr [Korda’s] case, so perhaps they were ill-timed comments, but I stand beside what I said.”