Sanchez Vicario Receives an Early Dispatch

MELBOURNE, Australia — Arantxa Sanchez Vicario suffered her earliest exit from a Grand Slam event in five years today at the Australian Open--against a player who hasn’t come close to winning one.

Belgium’s Dominique van Roost overcame a sore arm and a 2-5 deficit in the third set to upset the second-seeded Sanchez Vicario, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6, in the third round.

Former two-time champion Jim Courier, who had played five consecutive five-set matches in the Australian Open over the last two years, finally won quickly as he overcame five set points in the second set to beat Jeff Tarango 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Courier, seeded No. 11, next faces No. 5 Thomas Muster.

No. 3 Goran Ivanisevic put away American Chris Woodruff 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-1.

Van Roost, who had won only a small WTA tournament in Cardiff, Wales, in six years on tour and had gone as far as the fourth round of a major just once--in the 1992 Australian Open--put on a precision display in her third-set comeback.

Before serving for the match at 7-6, the right-handed van Roost needed treatment for soreness in her right forearm and took the full three minutes allowed. Van Roost next will play 15th-seeded American Chanda Rubin, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic.

Sanchez Vicario hadn’t lost so early in a major since bowing out of Wimbledon in the second round in 1992.

In an atmosphere that crackled with the electricity of a final, the imperturbable Michael Chang--one of three Americans already in the fourth round--quickly turned the roars of Tim Henman’s “Barmy Army” into groans as he carved out a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over the Briton on Friday.

Also, Mary Pierce of France scored a 6-0, 6-2 third-round victory over Germany’s Marketa Kochta, setting up a meeting against No. 5 Anke Huber.