Marat Safin falls to Fabrice Santoro

PARIS, JUNE 2.Second seeded Marat Safin of Russia crashed out of the French Open here on Saturday, losing 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 1-6 to unseeded Fabrice Santoro of France in a roller-coaster third round match.

The unpredictable Safin could find no way to totally overpower the wily Frenchman, who has beaten him six times in seven matches.

True to style Santoro fought his corner in the opening two sets allowing the mercurial 21-year-old Muscovite to dictate the play and then frustrating him into a string of errors.

Safin broke to lead 2-0 at the start of the third set and looked poised to start a comeback, but the 28-year-old Santoro reeled off four games in a row against an increasingly abject looking Russian.

Suddenly the momentum switched as Safin opened up managing to break back in the next game and from 4-4, he reeled off eight games in a row to level the match at two sets all. But then the mists rolled in again for Safin as he allowed Santoro's bedevilry to get the better of him in the deciding set as the centre court crowd smelled Russian blood.Santoro took command winning six games in a row to clinch the match in 3hrs 12 mins.

Women's 10th seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa lost 7-5, 6-4 to Italian Francesca Schiavone in the third round.

Coetzer, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 1997, struggled in the cold conditions against an opponent ranked 51st in the world.

The out-of-sorts South African sliced a backhand volley wide to hand victory to Schiavone on her third match point.

The Italian, who is making her French Open debut, will face Zimbabwe's Cara Black in the last 16. Fifteenth seed Jelena Dokic slumped to a 3-6, 6-4 6-4 defeat at the hands of 131st-ranked qualifier Petra Mandula in the third round.

The Hungarian's victory leaves the bottom half of the women's draw in the $ 9.6 million claycourt grand slam with just two seeds, Belgians Kim Clijsters at number 12 and Justine Henin at number 14.

Dokic, who won her first title at the Italian Open last month, looked to be cruising to victory when she wrapped the first set up. But Mandula, at 20 two years older than the Yugoslav, fought back with some brave baseline play. Dokic missed three breakpoints to allow Mandula to hold for 3-2 and was then broken herself. The Hungarian held for 5-2 in the decider at which point Dokic received treatment on her ankle.

The Yugoslav argued with the umpire over a line call which seemed to spur her on and she claimed the next two games. But she pulled a backhand long and wide when facing her seventh match point to hand Mandula victory and a fourth-round meeting with unseeded Italian Rita Grande.

Kuerten finds it tough

Top seed and French open favourite Gustavo Kuerten came through a tough match against Moroccan Karim Alami to reach the last 16 with a nervy 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 victory.

The defending champion took the first set comfortably enough but then found himself struggling as Alami levelled the match in the second set tiebreak and then broke the Brazilian for a 5-4 lead in the third.

Kuerten pulled himself together to break back and force another tie-break, which he won 7-5 as a tiring Alami mis- hit a simple return on set point.

The Brazilian made an early break in the fourth set and although he never looked entirely comfortable against Alami's booming groundstrokes, he broke again for 5-2. Kuerten duly served out for the match and a fourth-round clash with American qualifier Michael Russell.

Capriati advances

Jennifer Capriati cruised through to the last 16 with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Mirjana Lucic.

Leander-Mahesh storms into third round

The ace Indian doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi cruised into the third round defeating the American pair of Eric Taino and Jack Waite 7-6, 6-1 on Saturday. The Indian duo started on a bright note breaking Eric Taino's serve in the first game to take an early lead. Thereafter the games went on serve but the American broke Paes's serve in the ninth game to level scores at 5-5. However, the Indians raced to a 4-0 lead in the tie-breaker and looked poised to take the tiebreaker. However, the Americans picked some quick points to make it 4-6 before the Indians converted double set points to wrap the set at 7-6.

In the second set, the Indians did not have much problems- except in the third game when the Americans had three double break points on Mahesh's serve- as they fought back in customary fashion to take the game.

Paes-Mahesh will now face the winners of the second round match between the third seeded Czech pair of Jiri Novak and David Rikl and Juan Ignacio Carrasco of Spain and Ota Fukarek of Czech Republic.

Earlier on Friday, Paes and Lisa Raymond of US entered the second round of the mixed doubles event, defeating the eight seeded pair of Nathalie Tauziat of France and David Adams of South Africa 6- 4, 7-5. They face Sandrine Testud of France and Andrew Florent of Australia.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Likhovtseva of Russia will face the second seeded pair of Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Sandon Stolle of Australia in the first round.

lMem's singles (Third round): Gustavo Kerten (Bra) bt Karim Alami (Moro) 6-3,6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5),6-2; Fabrice Santoro ( Fra) bt 2- Marat Safin (Rus) 6-4,6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 1-6.

Women's singles (Third round):

Petra Mandula ( Hun) bt 15-Jelena Dockic (Yug) 6-3,6-4,6-4; Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) bt Denise Chladkoyva (Cze) 6-1,2-6,6-1; 4- Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) bt Mirjana Lucic (Cro) 6-3,6-1; Serena Williams (U.S.) bt Zsofia Gubacsi (Hun) 6-1,6-2; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt 10-Amanda Coetzer (Rsa) 7-5, 6-4.

Earlier results: Men's singles (Third round): 1- 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Andy Roddick (US) 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 2-2 (retd); 14-Thomas Enqvist (Swe) bt Jiri Novak (Cze) 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 2-6, 8-6; Michael Russell (US) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4; 7-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-3; Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) 6- 2, 6-2, 6-2; Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt 11- Tim Henman (GBR) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; 4-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Jacobo Diaz (Esp) 6-1, 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-2.

Women's singles (Third round): Henrita Nagyova (Svk) bt Nathalie Dechy (Fra) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; Silvia Farina (Ita) bt Daniela Bedanova (Cze) 7-5, 7-6 (7/4); Barbara Schett (Aut) bt Nuria Llagostera (Esp) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2; Rita Grande (Ita) bt Cristina Torrens-Valero (Esp) 6-3, 6-1; 14-Justine Henin (Bel) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; 12-Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt Marta Marrero (Esp) 6-2, 6-2.

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