Australian Alicia Molik faded after a bright start as her Australian Open campaign ended in the third round against Swiss eighth seed Patty Schnyder at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.

Molik powered through the opening set in impressive style, but errors increasingly slipped into her game as Schnyder took control to win the match 3-6 6-2 6-0.

It means no Australian woman will be part of the second week of singles action in the tournament.

Molik looked unstoppable in the first, securing a break in Schnyder's opening service game and losing only four points on serve herself for the set, which she wrapped up in just 26 minutes.

But Schnyder fought back in the second, breaking Molik's serve three times, with the Australian failing to win a point on her second serve for the set.

She ended it in disappointing style with a double-fault, symptomatic of her ebbing confidence and growing error rate.

While Molik's form continued to slip away, the Swiss left-hander carried her momentum into the deciding set, racing through it in just 21 minutes with barely a hiccup.

Schnyder's progression to the fourth round continued her strong record at Melbourne Park, where she has had the best results of her grand slam career.

She made the quarter-finals last year, losing to eventual winner Amelie Mauresmo, and made the semi-finals in 2005.

That was the year Molik had her career-best grand slam result in the Open, making it to the quarter-finals, where she lost a three-set marathon to then world No.1 Lindsay Davenport.

That result helped her climb to be the world No.8, a career high-point, but shortly after her progress was hugely set back by an inner ear infection.

It caused her to miss a total of nine months from the circuit, including last year's Australian Open, and it has been a slow road back towards top form since resuming last May.

Her ranking slumped to No.141 ahead of this event, meaning she needed a wildcard entry.

Molik said Schnyder adapted her game well after the opening set and she failed to respond.

"Someone like Patty is top 10 in the world for a reason, she's there because she's not just a fantastic player but a great thinker, all the top girls in the world are great thinkers," she said.

"She found a game that beat me today."

Molik said it was a big disappointment to lose, but she still felt confident about her prospects for 2007.

"I was really expecting to win today so it's very disappointing, especially from the position I set myself up in the first set," she said.

"But I always try to walk away with a couple of positives and I feel like I'm hitting the ball very well, so I've set myself up to do well for the year."

She said after the time she spent out of the game, she could not wait to continue her comeback.

"I've been looking forward to playing, when I say playing I mean tournaments, from the minute the off-season started in November," Molik said.

"Generally at this time of year, January is a time of year that you'd like to stay home, but I'm actually looking forward to playing and travelling and getting close to that feeling of being in finals again.

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