Wearing a T-shirt, red shorts and with his face smeared with zinc cream, Pat Rafter walked onto the centre court at Melbourne Park yesterday dressed for the beach.

To the disappointment of those who had anticipated Rafter meeting Mark Philippoussis in a fourth-round blockbuster, that is where the dual US Open champion can spend the next week.

Either there or working out what it is about his fame that seems to go missing in Australia.

For Rafter, who has never been beyond the fourth round of his national title, there is no place like home to suffer an upset defeat, even if yesterday's third round loss to Thomas Enqvist was not a monumental surprise.

The Swede's ranking of 21 was more a reflection of an arm injury suffered in the second half of last year than his ability, particularly as the former top-10 regular entered the contest on an 11-match winning roll.

Rafter came in with his spirits raised by two comfortable victories here but without the match hardness needed to endure two weeks of best-of-five-set matches.

So the result went by the form-book, not the rankings. Enqvist won 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4, a scoreline that disappointed Rafter, but did not seem to upset him too greatly.

"That's just the way it goes," he said. "It's a loss. There's nothing I can do about it. I went in there, I tried. Maybe the preparation could have been a fraction better, but I felt like I was hitting the ball better and better. Today he never really gave me a chance."

From the start of the match, Enqvist pinned Rafter to the baseline with his strong serve and heavy groundstrokes. When Rafter did make a speculative charge, the Swede picked him off with accurate passing shots.

"I think the conditions suited him really well and he played too big and too strong for me," Rafter said.

The key moment in the match came at 1-1 and deuce in the third set when Rafter dumped two volleys into the net to cough up a break of service.

Rafter had two break points at 4-5 in the same set, but Enqvist saved both and clinched the set with an unplayable 208km/h serve.

In the first game of the fourth set, Rafter smashed a flat ball out of the stadium and jumped the net after he had won the game.

He admitted that smashing the ball had been a sign of his frustration. He had jumped the net, on the other hand, because "I was running in and I had momentum. Sorry mate, I didn't mean to."

But yesterday, no matter what he did, he could not find a way past the Swede. Asked whether he had tried to do too much with his volleys on the rare occasions he did get to the net, Rafter simply shrugged.

"There wasn't much I could do, mate," he said. "I don't know what you want me to do."

What the vocal crowd wanted Rafter to do was to bring his US Open form home. But Rafter needed a faster surface, like the one at Flushing Meadows, not the court that yesterday refused to allow him to exploit his excellent net game.

"I think we could use a different ball, too," Rafter said. "I'm going for the Wilson ball."

The taciturn Enqvist was so happy with his victory he almost smiled.

The country that delivered ABBA and Volvos is still to deliver its first wise-cracking tennis star but it may have uncovered another grand slam contender.

"Everyboy in the draw almost can have a chance to win, and I feel like I'm playing well enough to beat anybody in the draw," Enqvist said. "But that is not the same as going all the way and winning it."

***

[talking about Mark Philippoussis]

The road to that first grand slam title now goes through Enqvist.

Asked for his assessment of the Philippoussis-Enqvist fourth-rounder, Rafter gave both players a chance of winning the match and the title. Enqvist, said Rafterm had the potential to win a grand slam event. But, then, so did Philippoussis.

"I have seen a lot of signs of him doing well this week and there's no reason why he can't continue on his winning ways and get very close to next Sunday," Rafter said. "It's going to come for him, but you have to be patient."