PARIS, May 29: Russian underdog Marat Safin caused another sensation when he defeated defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil in a five-set thriller on a sun-drenched centre-court. The 116th-ranked 18-year-old, who is based in Spain, put out American Andre Agassi in the previous round. This time Safin came through 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 against the eighth-seeded Kuerten in two hours 47 minutes. He now plays Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, who put out Jan-Michael Gambill of the United States 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/0).Kuerten was the second men's seed to be beaten on Friday. Earlier Patrick Rafter, the No.4, went out to fellow-Australian Jason Stoltenberg 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and now plays Magnus Gustafsson for a place in the last-sixteen. The experienced Swede beat David Prinosil of Germany 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (9/11), 6-1.
So far eight of the 16 men's seeds have failed to survive the first week at the Championships. The others to disappear have been Pete Sampras, Karol Kucera, Jonas Bjorkman, GregRusedski, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Petr Korda.
And the stamina-sapping Roland Garros red clay claimed two more victims when South African Wayne Ferreira twisted his ankle and Dutch qualifier Johan Van Lottum retired with a strained thigh muscle. Ferreira was trailing title favourite Marcelo Rios 1-6, 3-3 when he fell heavily trying to chase down a deep shot from the third-seeded South American.
He was clearly in severe pain and unable to continue, putting the Chilean in to a fourth-round clash against either 13th-seeded Albert Costa or Bohdan Ulirach of the Czech Republic. Van Lottum, who had felt twinges of pain from his thigh in his surprise first-round victory over compatriot Jan Siemerink, pulled up in his second-round match against 1989 champion Michael Chang. Chang, who was leading 7-5, 6-2, 3-0 at the time, now plays either Frenchman Olivier Delaitre or Francisco Clavet for a place in the last 16.
In other second-round matches, held over because of the rain delays of the last 48 hours, 16th-seedAlberto Berasategui outplayed Frenchman Gerard Solves. Berasategui, a finalist in 1994, scored a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win and now plays Dominik Hrbaty of the Czech Republic for a fourth-round berth. Hrbaty overwhelmed Javier Viloca of Spain 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
MAJOLI SETTLES SCORE: Defending champion Iva Majoli notched up a revenge victory over Natasha Zevereva of Belarus. The 19-year-old from Zagreb reached the third-round with a 6-3, 6-4 win in just over an hour.
Completing the women's second-round matches, the in-form Patty Schynder of Switzerland defeated France's Julie Halard-Decugis and now plays Silvia Farina of Italy. Schynder outlasted Halard-Decugis 6-3, 3 -6, 6-1.
HOW THE SEEDS FARED
Men's singles (2nd round): Jason Stoltenberg (Australia) bt 4-Patrick Rafter (Australia) 6-4 2-6 6-3 6-2, Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) bt 6-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, Marat Safin (Russia) bt 8-Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-1 6-4, 11-Michael Chang (US) bt John vanLottum (Netherlands) 7-5 6-2 3-0 retired injured, 14-Alex Corretja (Spain) bt Fernando Vicente (Spain) 6-3 6-2 6-3, 16-Alberto Berasategui (Spain) bt Gerard Solves (France) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4.
3rd round: 3-Marcelo Rios (Chile) bt Wayne Ferreira (South Africa) 6-1 3-3 retired injured
Women's singles (2nd round): 2-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Liezel Horn (South Africa) 6-2 6-0, 4-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spain) bt Catalina Cristea (Romania) 6-2 6-3, 7-Conchita Martinez (Spain) bt Rita Grande (Italy) 6-1 6-2, Magui Serna (Spain) bt 11-Mary Pierce (France) 7-5 6-2, 13-Anna Kournikova (Russia) bt Katarina Studenikova (Slovakia) 6-2 7-6 (7-2), 14-Sandrine Testud (France) bt Elena Wagner (Germany) 6-2 6-0, 15-Dominique van Roost (Belgium) bt Els Callens (Belgium) 6-3 6-0.
THE OTHER RESULTS
Men's singles (2nd round): Hicham Arazi (Morocco) bt Nicolas Escude (France) 6-3 6-4 6-2, Richard Krajicek (Netherlands) bt Rodolphe Gilbert (France) 7-5 6-4 6-1, Cedric Pioline (France) bt Julien Boutter(France) 7-5 6-0 3-6 6-4, Fabrice Santoro (France) bt Lucas Arnold (Argentina) 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-0 6-3, Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) bt Jeff Tarango (US) 6-0 6-2 6-2, Andrew Ilie (Australia) bt Mikael Tillstrom (Sweden) 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 6-3 6-4, Christope van Garsse (Belgium) bt Scott Drapper (Australia) 6-3 3-6 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) bt Andrea Gaudenzi (Italy) 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-4, Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) bt Juan Albert Viloca (Spain) 6-3 6-3 6-3, Hernan Gumy (Argentina) bt Gianluca Pozzi (Italy) 6-2 6-3 3-6 5-7 11-9, Magnus Gustafsson (Sweden) bt David Prinosil (Germany) 6-4 6-3 6-7 (9-11) 6-1, Daniel Vacek (Czech Republic) bt Jan-Michael Gambil (US) 6-4 2-6 7-5 7-6 (7-0), Francisco Clavet (Spain) bt Olivier Delaitre (France) 6-2 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-1.
Women's singles (2nd round): Joanette Kruger (South Africa) v Silvia Farina (Italy) 6-4 3-6 bad light stopped play, Serene Williams (US) bt Corina Morariu (US) 6-1 6-0, Gala Leon Garcia (Spain) bt Paola Suarez (Argentina) 6-2 1-67-5, Ruxandra Dragomir (Romania) bt Flora Perfetti (Italy) 6-0 6-2, Virginia Ruano-Pascual (Spain) bt Anne-Gaelle Sidot (France) 6-4 7-6 (8-6), Alexandra Fusai (France) bt Tara Snyder (US) 6-4 6-3, Elena Likhovatseva (Russia) bt Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 7-5 7-5, Miho Saeki (Japan) bt Laurence Andreto (France) 6-1 7-6 (7-5), Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) bt Sylvia Plischke (Austria) 6-4 6-3, Chanda Rubin (US) bt Tatiana Panova (Russia) 6-1 6-1, Asa Carlsson (Sweden) bt Sonya Jeyaseelan (Canada) 6-4 6-0, Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Ann Wunderlich (US) 6-1 6-1.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
