TENNIS/French Open Championships: The dull thud of a lifeless being crashing from a high point to the ground was heard emanating from Court Suzanne Lenglen yesterday morning. The same disconcerting noise was heard later on Centre Court by a rollicking crowd of French supporters. The first caused disappointment, the second shattered French hopes. Again.
Maria Sharapova falling out of the draw to the kid sister of Marat Safin and 14th seed, Dinara Safina, was the morning sound. Not only was Sharapova's unscheduled end a long way to drop but the manner of it may come back to haunt her in the weeks before Wimbledon.
The second was Amelie Mauresmo magnificently collapsing to a 17-year-old Czech girl called Nicole Vaidisova in front of a cheering, wailing, booing, whistling French evening crowd. Six feet tall, a student of the Nick Bollitieri academy in Florida and now the kid who knocked the world number one out of her own tournament in only her second appearance, Vaidisova was the antithesis of the French woman.
The teenager's carefree spirit, the way she belted the ball and her relaxed attitude was a counterpoint to Mauresmo's visible tension, her worried, cautious demise.
Few are surprised as Mauresmo, despite her beautifully balanced game, has never demonstrated the mental toughness to win on home soil.
Even as she struggled to win the first set 7-5, few would have thought Vaidisova would deny her any more than three games in the following two. The second was worse than the first and the third worse than the second as Vaidisova won 6-1, 6-2.
There was no tactical or technical explanation for it. It was simply that Mauresmo was unable to execute her game plan because once again and sadly, the burden of pressure was overwhelming.
"It's a little bit difficult to explain and know exactly what happened to me," said Mauresmo. "The first thing that comes to me is I went down a little physically and my shots were not so disturbing for her."
While Sharapova, one of four teenagers who began yesterday's fourth round matches, carried a foot injury into Paris and has played throughout with a heavy taping, she was managing to move with ease and having dropped the first set to Safina before recovering with a 6-2 second, thoughts were that Safina's resistance had peaked against the 2004 Wimbledon champion.
Sharapova then went on to grunt, thump and tear through the third set and take a pumped-up 5-1 lead and looked as though she had safely coped with her compatriot's ripping ground shots. As the stadium began leak spectators, the presumption was the glamour player was safely through to the quarter-finals for a meeting with compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova.
It was then a series of errors and a haemorrhaging confidence undermined Sharapova's tournament and it all fell to pieces. As she forlornly looked up towards her team in the guest box hoping for a sign, she realised she was seriously in trouble. While her opponent significantly raised her game, Sharapova's choice and execution of shots entirely deserted her. From 5-1 up in the third she lost the next six games to lose the set 7-5 and the match.
"She (Safina) had nothing to lose," said the fourth seed afterwards. "The game at 5-2 opened the door a little bit for her. You get hit in the head, that's what happens. Unfortunately I haven't played a lot of matches in the past weeks and I don't feel like I'm match tough enough."
The late turn around of fortune represents Safina's best run ever at Roland Garros. She had previously reached only the second round in 2004. But in the Italian Open event before Paris, Safina defeated Kim Clijsters on a run to the final before being beaten by Hingis.
Her form was sound while while Sharapova's preparation was practically non-existent due to her foot injury.
And so the two big names fall after a week of the seeds advancing according to script. Up until yesterday evening for the first time in the competition's history, only two of the top 16 seeds had not reached their allotted place in the fourth round.Last year six had departed, the year before seven.
At the end of yesterday's high-end carnage Vaidisova earns the right to face Venus Williams, in the quarter-final, while Safina meets Kuznetsova. Germany's Anna Groenefeld meets Justine Henin-Hardenne while Kim Clisters will face the winner of the match between Martina Hingis and Israel's Shahar Peer.
MEN'S SINGLES: Third round:(4) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Juan Monaco (Arg) 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-2, (25) Gael Monfils (Fra) bt (8) James Blake (USA) 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-4. Fourth Round: (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt (20) Tomas Berdych (Cze) 6-3 6-2 6-3, (12) Mario Ancic (Cro) bt (7) Tommy Robredo (Spa) 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-4 7-5, (3) David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Martin Vassalo Arguello (Ita) 6-4 6-4 6-4, (6) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt (10) Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-3.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Fourth round: (16) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt (1) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-2, (11) Venus Williams (USA) bt (7) Patty Schnyder (Swi) 4-6 6-3 6-2, (14) Dinara Safina (Rus) bt (4) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 7-5 2-6 7-5, (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt (9) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 1-6 6-4 6-4, (5) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt (10) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-1 6-4, (13) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger) bt (32) Gisela Dulko (Arg) 6-3 6-4, (31) Shahar Peer (Isr) is tied with (12) Martina Hingis (Swi) 3-6 6-2, (2) Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt (15) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) 6-1 6-4.
