Without putting too fine a point on it, Australians will not be greatly distressed to see the back of Thomas Enqvist some time this week, although it is perfectly possible they will have to wait until Sunday and the men's final of the Australian Open to wave him goodbye.

The Swede arrived unheralded to win the Australian Hard-court Championship in Adelaide early in the year, then triumphed in the Colonial Classic in Kooyong to underline his status as the hottest of outside bets for this year's opening Grand Slam.

What may have prevented many Australians stacking their wages on him at 40-1 was the fact that he was drawn in the same quarter as local heroes Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis, who yesterday, if all had been right and proper in the state of Victoria, would have been locked in a centre court battle for a quarter-final place.

Last Friday Enqvist took Rafter to the cleaners and yesterday he defeated Philippoussis, thereby ending all hope of a first Australian men's singles title on home soil since Mark Edmondson, unseeded, defeated his compatriot John Newcombe in 1976.

Prompted by Rafter beating Philippoussis in last year's US Open final, and the Australian men capturing 10 ATP Tour titles last year, the highest number since 1975, record crowds poured in during the opening week of this tournament.

Enqvist has understandably put a bit of a dampener on matters, although the new generation of Australian tennis youngsters, led by Lleyton Hewitt on the men's side and Jelena Dokic on the women's, appears richly talented.

The sharply enhanced maturity of the 22-year-old Philippoussis, known as The Scud, had so impressed that many believed he was in with a real chance of the title, particularly after his vivid five-set second-round win over Michael Chang of the United States.

Just before Wimbledon last year a thoroughly disillusioned Philippoussis was, not for the first time, threatening to turn his back on the sport, but his coaching link-up with Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, has been a revelation.

The fourth-round match with Enqvist promised much and duly delivered, although the drama did not begin until the third set. The 24-year-old Swede, who as a teenager had been trumpeted as the next in line to Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg, was initially quite brilliant. His serve matched Philippoussis's for power and edged it on accuracy, and his returns of serve were simply stunning.

Two years ago an injured left ankle threatened to wreck Enqvist's career, and at the end of last year he was absent for three months while pieces of flaked bone were removed from his right ankle.

"I did a lot of physical preparation in the off-season and the early wins in Adelaide brought my confidence back," said Enqvist, whose only other Grand Slam quarter-final was here in 1996 when he lost to Australia's Mark Woodforde. He next plays Switzerland's Marc Rosset, who followed up his straight-sets victory over Tim Henman with an equally impressive 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over the Czech Republic's Bohdan Ulihrach yesterday.

Having broken the Philippoussis serve in the third set, Enqvist was on the verge of a thoroughly imposing straight-sets victory, the small knot of Swedes in the crowd having out-decibeled the 14,000 or so Australians with their football chants. But when Enqvist missed his chance to serve for the match a trumpeter launched into the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair.

Philippoussis immediately urged his compatriots to greater levels of support and Enqvist, belying his previously calm exterior, became decidedly rattled. He lost the tie-break and then the fourth set as pandemonium broke out.

"I tried to get the crowd revved up," said Philippoussis. He certainly succeeded. Enqvist was roundly booed when he slammed a ball into the window of the courtside television commentary box - "It was a mistake. I've nothing against television" - and he was catcalled again at the start of the deciding set for displaying his obvious frustration.

The match was impossible to call, with the huge Australian seemingly having the psychological edge. Then suddenly he tired and Enqvist rediscovered the form of the first two sets for a thrilling 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 6-2 win.

On Saturday the reigning champion, Petr Korda, was beaten in five sets by Todd Martin of the US. It was a relief to the organisers, with the Korda steroid case awaiting a ruling in the High Court in London this Thursday.

In the women's singles, world number one Lindsay Davenport underlined her status as title favourite with a resounding 6-1 6-3 thumping of Canadian qualifier Maureen Drake to set up a quarter-final with aggressive fifth seed Venus Williams.

Williams was made to work a little harder by fellow American Chanda Rubin but triumphed 7-6 6-4.

Williams's defeat of Rubin meant she had reached at least the quarterfinals in her past five grand slam appearances, and the brash 18-year-old was not overawed by the magnitude of the task against Davenport.

"I'll approach that match like any other," Williams said.

"I know I'm playing a quarterfinal of a Grand Slam and I'm playing the world number one, but I have some rights of my own.

"Lindsay knows she'll have to play her best tennis against me, whether I'm playing well or not."