Second seeded Marat Safin has crashed out of the French Open in a five-set roller-coaster third round match to unseeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro. The erratic Russian has lost to Santoro in five of their previous six meetings. Speaking before the match, Santoro spoke of his fear that "some day he's going to crush me - it's just a matter of time." Safin was so angry at this defeat that he refused to turn up for the obligatory post-match press conference, incurring a statutory maximum $10,000 fine. Santoro won 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 0-6, 6-1 in 3 hours 12 minutes to reach the last 16.
There was also an upset in the women's tournament, where Zimbabwe's Cara Black knocked out eighth seed Conchita Martinez in three sets. Black recovered from a bad start, losing 6-3 in the first to take the next two 6-3 6-4 to earn a place in the last sixteen.
Elsewhere, number ten seed Amanda Coetzer also bowed out, but American seeds Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams and Meghann Shaugnessy all reached the last 16 with ease. It is the first time since 1986 that neither Martinez, last year's runner-up, nor her compatriot Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, who lost in the second round, have reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Black will now face Italian Francesca Schiavone, who knocked out Coetzer 7-5 6-4.
Capriati, seeded fourth, and Williams, number six, blasted their way into round four with straightforward victories. Capriati, the Australian Open champion, lost her opening service game to love before beating Croatian Mirjana Lucic 6-3 6-1 in 51 minutes on Centre Court. Capriati will meet compatriot Shaughnessy, the 16th seed, who defeated Janette Husarova of Slovakia 7-5 6-4.
Williams also lost her first game but cruised through 6-1 6-2 against Hungarian qualifier Zsofia Gubacsi on Court Suzanne Lenglen, matching her best French Open performance. She will now play Russian Nadia Petrova, who overcame American Amy Frazier 6-7 6-4 6-3.
Women's top seed Martina Hingis faces Australian Rachel McQuillan on Court Suzanne Lenglen later this afternoon.
Filed by Shane Murray
