|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Faltering French No. 7 Tauziat, No. 10 Testud upset in Paris
Posted: Friday June 02, 2000 12:00 AM
PARIS (AP) -- Martina Navratilova, playing in the French Open for the first time since 1994, teamed with Mariaan de Swardt to win their opening doubles match Friday. Navratilova and de Swardt rallied to beat Sabine Appelmans and Rita Grande 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. Navratilova, 43, is trying to add to her total of 56 major titles in singles and doubles. She plans to play four tournaments this year with de Swardt, finishing at Wimbledon. In singles, the last American left in the men's draw, 1989 champion Michael Chang, battled fifth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten for three hours before losing 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-4. Unseeded American Chanda Rubin eliminated No. 7 Nathalie Tauziat 6-4, 7-6 (3). Rubin, one of only three American women left in the tournament, overcame a poor game serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set.
"I knew I blew an opportunity, so it kind of made it worse," she said. "I managed to pull it out. I felt I played a pretty good match, but a little shaky at times. Just have to get better." The only seeded player remaining in Rubin's quarter of the draw is No. 1 Martina Hingis, who swept Tathiana Garbin 6-1, 6-0. No. 3 Monica Seles beat Rita Kuti Kis 6-1, 6-2. Joining Tauziat on the sideline was another seeded Frenchwoman, No. 10 Sandrine Testud, who lost to Asa Carlsson 4-6, 6-3 7-5. The upsets left 10 of the 16 seeded players in the women's draw, including two from France -- No. 6 Mary Pierce and No. 13 Amelie Mauresmo. Pierce beat Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-0. Mauresmo needed just 39 minutes for a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kveta Hrdlickova, who won only four of 28 poins in the second set. The last Frenchwoman to win the French Open was Francoise Durr in 1967. Eleven seeded players remained in the men's draw after No. 13 Tim Henman lost to Fernando Vicente 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. No. 10 Alex Corretja beat Richard Krajicek 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Unseeded Mark Philippoussis, a first-round winner against No. 2 Pete Sampras, beat Hicham Arazi 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who has played 14 sets in three matches, outlasted Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The victory left Kafelnikov leaning on the net cord in exhaustion after the final point. Andre Agassi, the top-seeded defending champion, was fined $10,000 Friday for leaving without talking to reporters after his loss Thursday to Karol Kucera. Stefan Koubek, disqualified for throwing his racket in anger and accidentally hitting a ballboy, was fined $6,500. On the warmest day of the tournament, with temperatures in the 70s, Rubin reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for the third time. "I feel like my game has improved just being on this surface again," she said. Rubin, 24, is best remembered in Paris for rallying from a 5-0, 40-love deficit in the third set to beat Jana Novotna in 1995. Tauziat struggled with her serve and played a shaky tiebreaker, netting an easy volley and then hitting a lob long on match point. She said the defeat won't influence her decision at the end of the year regarding whether to retire. "I lost today, and that's it," said Tauziat, 32. "After the French Open there are other tournaments." Her 17 appearances at Roland Garros ties a record, but she has never had much success, reaching the quarterfinals only once. Carlsson, ranked 53rd, needed nearly 2 1/2 hours to beat Testud. The Swede reached match point by hitting a lunging volley for a winner, and when Testud dumped her final shot into the net, Carlsson let out a yelp and jumped up and down with glee. American Lindsay Davenport, bothered by back spasms in a first-round upset loss to Dominique Van Roost, pulled out of doubles because of the injury.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
