Andy and Amelie felled in seeds' cull

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - With neither pomp nor ceremony Andy Roddick and Amelie Mauresmo were jettisoned from the Australian Open on Friday, beaten by unheralded journeymen on the bleakest of nights for the former world number ones.

Mauresmo and her fragile temperament succumbed to the tenacity of homegrown baseliner Casey Dellacqua while Roddick's brittle game plan was picked apart by little-known but gifted German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The night shocks came hard on the heels of a day session which had proved fertile for the seeds -- Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal all winning -- and provided much needed drama at the season's opening grand slam.

Roddick's demise, a fittingly dramatic, explosive and bad-tempered 6-4 3-6 7-6 6-7 8-6 loss as moths fluttered in the early hours of the Melbourne morning, illustrated the danger the world's best face every time they step on court.

"I just said to myself, 'full power on every shot', Kohlschreiber told the crowd," sharing his route-one tactic.

Roddick had no answer to the man in the luminous green shirt with the sledgehammer backhand.

"NOT FUN"

Frustration filled him. He shouted at himself, at the umpire, at the crowd. Nothing worked and, despite a career-best 42 aces in a match, he folded just after 2.00am.

"It's not good, it's not fun... I am trying to think of a new and exciting way to say that," Roddick told reporters.

"He was swinging from the first ball. I don't know if I had two feet set the whole match."

Kohlschreiber has Jarkko Nieminen in his sights next but at least Roddick had put up a fight.

Mauresmo has much soul-searching to do after her latest disappointment.

Dellacqua has neither the court-craft nor the shot-making of Kohlschreiber, yet she captivated Melbourne Park and filled local hearts with pride by beating the fragile Frenchwoman.

"It's just an absolutely wonderful feeling," a tearful Dellacqua sobbed after her 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory. "I am shaking so much, I am so excited."

Giant-killers had been in short supply at the year's first grand slam and so it continued as day five opened with champion Serena and top seed Henin slicing through to the fourth round.

They were joined by fifth seed Maria Sharapova, number three Jelena Jankovic, men's second seed Nadal and number four Nikolay Davydenko.

FREE HITTING

With the tournament free-wheeling along smoothly, few expected Dellacqua to jam such a stick in the spokes but she upended Mauresmo with free hitting and brave counter attacking.

Mauresmo, seeded 18th after a spell of injuries, acknowledged that her lack of confidence had proved a factor.

"Confidence and really not keeping in mind the aggression that I should have (had)," she mulled.

Henin advanced by beating tricky Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-5 6-4.

"Francesca is always a tough player, tough opponent, and I knew that," the top seed told reporters. "I knew it was going to be a good fight."

Henin, who has now won 31 consecutive matches since losing in last year's Wimbledon semi-finals to Marion Bartoli, meets Hsieh Su-wei for a place in the quarters after the Taiwanese player ousted France's Aravane Rezai.

Williams eased through with a routine 6-3 6-4 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and next up for her is 12th-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova.

Jankovic shrugged off fatigue and nagging injuries to beat Virginie Razzano 6-2 4-6 6-1 and Sharapova swatted aside identikit opponent Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-0.

Nadal shrugged off a slow start to overwhelm Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-5 6-2 6-3 and line up a meeting with 23rd seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)