Tennis: Sharapova and Safin through, Roddick out

PARIS - Ice-cool under a blistering sun, Maria Sharapova repelled the free hitting of French wildcard Aravane Rezai and the hopes of a Roland Garros crowd to reach the third round of the claycourt grand slam today.

After a shaky first round in which she was stretched to three sets by fellow Russian Evgenia Linetskaya, the second seed upped her game to beat fellow 18-year-old Rezai 6-3 6-2 on centre court.

Men's third seed Marat Safin emulated his compatriot's achievement, thundering into the third round with a 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-1 win over Czech Lukas Dlouhy.

The Australian Open champion next faces fellow former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero after the Spanish former champion beat Czech Jan Hernych 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Argentina's Jose Acasuso ended the challenge of the American men at the French Open by stunning second seed Andy Roddick 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 8-6 in the second round.

Roddick's demise left the United States without a man in the third round at Roland Garros for the second successive year.


- REUTERS