El Aynaoui is the third top seed to go out

Milan Indoor

Younes El Aynaoui came back down to earth after his Australian Open heroics as he was knocked out by Italian veteran Andrea Gaudenzi in Milan.

The third-seeded Moroccan, who was beaten by Andy Roddick in a dramatic quarter-final in Melbourne, lost his first-round match 7-5 6-3.

El Aynaoui's defeat means none of the top three seeds have made it past the second round in Milan.

Earlier Richard Krajicek had survived a nailbiting test against Radek Stepanek to reach the quarter-finals.

Stepanek, who beat top seed and fellow Czech Jiri Novak in the first round on Monday, was equal to the 1996 Wimbledon champion in every department.

Krajicek wasted five match points but finally came through 15-13 in a third-set tiebreak to win 3-6 6-3 7-6.

Krajicek will meet Jarrko Nieminen in the last eight after the Finn beat Anthony Dupuis of France 7-6 2-6 6-4.

And Holland's Martin Verkerk booked his quarter-final place with a 6-3 6-4 win over Swedish veteran Thomas Enqvist.

Defending champion Davide Sanguinetti brushed aside fellow Italian Giorgio Galimberti 6-2 6-4 in his first-round match to set up a meeting with Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

"It's a tough draw but if I can get a good deal of first serves and stay on top of my game I can do well," said Sanguinetti.

Galimberti took the place of French number six seed Fabrice Santoro, who pulled out of the tournament because of tiredness after winning the Australian Open doubles title.