Paris, June 02: Third-seed Venus Williams and seventh-seed Jennifer Capriati have crashed out of the French Open. The elder of the Williams sister was stunned by 18-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva 2-6 6-2 6-4 in the fourth round of the grand slam tournament.
Capriati lost 6-3 4-6 6-3 to another Russian Nadia Petrova, who will now play Zvonareva for a place in semi-finals.
While Venus was eliminated, Serena emerged unscathed from a first-set scare and a nasty spill to beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 7-5 6-3. The match was much more arduous than Serena's 6-0 6-0 victory over Barbara Schett in the previous round. Sixth-seeded Lindsay Davenport was forced to quit, aggravating a strained toe on her left foot that has bothered her for about a month. She was trailing No. 24 Conchita Martinez 6-4 2-0.
Martinez will next face No. 2 Kim Clijsters, who played 24 minutes before winning a game, then raced past No. 15 Magdalena Maleeva 0-6 6-2 6-1.
Mauresmo, seeded fifth, advanced by beating Magui Serna 6-1 6-2, and has her work out against Serena Williams who she playes next.
Chanda Rubin reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the third time, beating Petra Mandula 4-6 6-2 7-5. The eighth-seeded American next plays No. 4 Justine Henin-Hardenne, who celebrated her 21st birthday by beating No. 19 Patty Schnyder 6-3 2-6 6-2. In men’s singles competition, Andre Agassi advanced to the quarter finals, beating Flavio Saretta 6-2 6-1 7-5.
In the final third-round match, three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten beat No. 21 Gaston Gaudio 7-6 (7/1) 7-5 5-7, 6-3. Play was suspended midway through the third set yesterday because of darkness.
No. 4 Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion, beat No. 13 Jiri Novak 7-5 6-3 6-2. He'll next face Dutchman Martin Verkerk, who upset No. 11 Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-3 7-5. Verkerk had never won a grand slam match coming into the tournament. Bureau Report