Women's round-up
Seventh seed Jennifer Capriati was beaten in the fourth round of the French Open by the unseeded Nadia Petrova.
Capriati, the 2001 champion and the last woman to win a Grand Slam event before Serena Williams' current run of four victories, lost 6-3 4-6 6-3 to the Russian.
Petrova now meets compatriot Vera Zvonareva, who pulled off an even bigger shock to beat Venus Williams, for a place in the semi-finals.
Top seed Serena Williams was given her first real test at this year's tournament by Ai Sugiyama but still came through in straight sets.
The defending champion, who had breezed through her opening three matches, beat her Japanese opponent 7-5 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals.
Williams was broken in the very first game of the match and although she immediately broke back, she again fell behind to trail 4-2.
But then the American began to find her range and she broke twice to take the first set and again at the start of the second set.
 The tennis wasn't pretty but I still won in the end. |
Sugiyama retrieved that break but she was beginning to wilt under the power of Williams' game.
The second set turned on a seventh game full of punishing rallies which Sugiyama conceded with an ill-judged drop shot.
Williams was then firmly in control and was able to clinch a victory that now pits her against French fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo.
Mauresmo was always in control against Magui Serna of Spain and coasted into the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-2 win.
Mauresmo beat Williams the last time the pair met and the Frenchwoman is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year.
But Justine Henin-Hardenne had to extend herself to beat 19th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
The fourth seed, who was celebrating her 21st birthday, dropped the first set but fought back to win 6-3 2-6 6-2.
Fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters also needed three sets, overcoming a nightmare start to beat Magdalena Maleeva 0-6 6-2 6-1.
Eighth seed Chanda Rubin had to overcome some stiff resistance to reach the last eight.
The American dropped the first set against Hungarian Petra Mandula and although she took the second comfortably, she had to battle hard in the decider before finally prevailing 4-6 6-2 7-5.
MMIX
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