Another scalp for Safin

Marat Safin, the 18-year-old qualifier from Moscow, continues to rise as quickly as the Russian interest rates. Having made an impressive entrance by beating Andre Agassi in the first round, Safin bestrode the Centre Court at Roland Garros yesterday and sent Brazil's No 8 seed Gustavo Kuerten, the reigning champion, scurrying to a five-set defeat.

Last year it was Kuerten who emerged from relative obscurity, as a string-bean 20-year-old, to take Paris in a yellow-and-blue samba storm. He was then ranked No 66 in the world; Safin currently stands at 116.

Kuerten gained a reputation at the French Open as the king of the nail-biting five-setters, his determination to go for the lines never wavering, his confidence unassailable. Now Safin has followed in his footsteps, beating Agassi 6-2 in the fifth set on Tuesday, and this time again holding his nerve for a marvellously impressive 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Those who delve into the record books on such occasions decided that two records were set at Roland Garros yesterday. First Safin, by beating Kuerten, became the first qualifier to knock out a defending champion in the open era at a Grand Slam. Second, only one of the top eight seeds survived the first two rounds, namely the favourite, Marcelo Rios of Chile.

Pat Rafter, the No 4 seed and a semi-finalist last year, was another loser yesterday, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to his fellow Australian Jason Stoltenberg. John McEnroe recently suggested Rafter might be a one-Slam wonder, having won last year's US Open, and he may be right.

Thursday's rain had given Safin a further 24 hours to recover from the rigours of his match against Agassi. The youngster had suggested that he might be too tired to put up much of a show against Kuerten, and the way he moved in the first set suggested his worst fears might be realised, although it may have been nerves that accounted for his sluggish start.

Had Kuerten been able to convert four break-points in the second set, this second-round match might have swung sharply against the Muscovite, but Safin blasted his way out of trouble to square the match. He hits the ball with quite awesome power off both sides.

Kuerten really knows only one way to play, and that is to attack. But the velocity of his shots often appeared weak by comparison with those of the 6ft 4in Safin, who has a frame as solid as a Russian brown bear.

"I think Gustavo was nervous in the important moments of the match," said Safin, who as a small boy played alongside Anna Kournikova in Moscow. Kournikova, who yesterday defeated Sweden's Asa Carlsson 6-0, 6-0 to reach the last 16, left for Florida when she was nine, whereas Safin took up residence in Valencia four years ago.

He has not become an archetypal Spanish player in terms of shot production, although he demonstrated against Agassi that he can scramble from the baseline with the best of them.

"Everything has been going in during the last two matches," said Safin, who recalls memories of the boy-man Boris Becker winning Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 1985.

"It's just luck," added Safin. "Maybe tomorrow everything will go out." Certainly Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic will hope so: he will play Safin today in a third-round match.

Rios became the first player to reach the last 16 when South Africa's Wayne Ferreira, at 6-1, 3-3 down, badly turned his right ankle and had to default, as he did here last year with a similar injury. The Chilean's next opponent will be the No 13 seed, Albert Costa, whom he was scheduled to meet in the Italian Open final recently before the Spaniard had to cry off with an injured wrist.

Switzerland's Martina Hingis, the No 1 seed and beaten finalist here last year, moved ever closer to a potentially explosive quarterfinal match against Venus Williams of the United States. Hingis defeated Slovakia's Karina Habsudova 6-3, 6-2 in her third-round match and Williams demolished Alexia Dechaume-Balleret of France 6-2, 6-1.

With the men's field having been blown apart in the first five days, the focus of attention will now be on the women, notably Hingis, the Williams sisters, and Kournikova. Always Kournikova.