2004 French Open Finalists Gaudio, Coria Ousted Monday at Roland Garros

Safin had his own meltdown on serve at 6-6 in the fifth, chucking in a double fault to give up the game, then standing stunned at the baseline before walking to his chair.

"I have nothing to be angry about," said Safin, who has been bothered by knee tendonitis. "I was just missing a little bit. I wasn't 100 percent when I needed to be."

Coria said his loss was a combination of a too-tough opponent and not being completely recovered from his time off due to shoulder surgery.

"I think that I was facing a very strong opponent, and I think that he confirmed today what a good player he is," Coria said of the Russian Davydenko. "He's extremely confident. He was putting shots in all the corners. He was playing very, very well, and I couldn't manage to push him to the back of the court."

Other winners Monday were tournament favorite and No. 4 seed Rafael Nadal (d. (23) Grosjean in four), No. 9 seed Guillermo Canas (d. Kiefer by walkover), and unseeded Argentine Mariano Puerta (d. countryman Acasuso, dropping only six games).

"I saw him in fact this morning," Canas said of Kiefer. "I could see that he was receiving treatment to his back, and I thought it was just something routine..In a way it's great for me because I've been playing for two days. I'm going to have a bit of time to recover. I wasn't really expecting that."

Kiefer reportedly pulled from the match with a sore neck.

On court Tuesday at Roland Garros in quarterfinal play are are (1) Federer vs. Hanescu (Club Fed won their only previous meeting last year in straight sets on clay), (4) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. (20) Ferrer in an all-Spanish (Nadal leads 2-1, with Ferrer winning on clay last year), and in doubles highlights (2) Bjorkman/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Aussies (8) Arthurs/Hanley, (1) Knowles/Nestor vs. the Czech/Argentine duo/automobile profanity of (12) Damm/Hood, and Americans (3) Bryan/Bryan vs. the Indian/Serb pair of (6)Paes/Zimonjic.

Sharapova, Henin Advance as Kuzy Chokes at French Open

No. 10 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne was gifted a quarterfinal berth at the French Open Monday when current US Open holder and No. 6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova went for the throat-clutcher in the third, blowing two match points up 5-3 in the third set, then nervously bunting balls into the net for a 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5 loss.

"The match, I think I lost -- I mean, she didn't win it," Kuznetsova said after losing to Henin-Hardenne, who looked like she could barely move at the end of the 3-hour-plus contest. "I felt that I'm much fitter than she was. I just started to miss because I didn't know that much what I had to do."

Henin-Hardenne said a few niggling injuries contributed to her fatigue problems, but that the mental aspect of hanging in was more important.

"I was seeing her very nervous," Henin-Hardenne said. "She was afraid to win the match -- that was very clear. And when you can see that in the eyes of your opponent, that is very good for myself. Even if I didn't play a great match, it's very good because I stayed really positive and I never stopped fighting...I think on the first match point I played very aggressive, very good. But on the second one, she played a slice in the net, and it was -- that wasn't a very tough shot. So I understood at that point I could win the match."
 
Others into the quarterfinals were No. 29-ranked Serb 17-year-old Ana Ivanovic, who continued her coming-out party with a gritty 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 win over Italian and No. 22 seed Francesca Schiavone, and No. 2 Maria Sharapova, who punished Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 6-3.

"I've been playing a lot better in my last two rounds than I did in my first two," Sharapova said. "I've actually been feeling a lot better...If people underestimate me on clay, then they'll be surprised."

Scheduled for Tuesday are (16) Likhovtseva vs. unseeded teen Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva (K. leads 1-0 in career meetings), (1) Davenport vs. (21) Pierce (the American leads 8-2, including the last four), (7) Petrova vs. (29) Ivanovic (Ivanovic leads 1-0), and in the marquee match-up, (2) Sharapova vs. (10) Henin-Hardenne (tied 1-1).
 
Davenport, bringing a hardcourt mentality to Roland Garros, knows that facing Pierce will be a contest of not looping groundstrokes, but who can pull the trigger first.

"Mary is going to be trying to take it to me. It's who can get the bigger shot off first," Davenport said. "Hard serves, going for winners."

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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