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Safina surprises Sharapova, enters last eight

Federer overcomes Benneteau, meets Gonzalez in quarterfinals; Bhupathi-Zheng duo moves up

— PHOTO: AFP

CHARGED UP: Dinara Safina reacts after defeating top seed Maria Sharapova in the French Open on Monday.

PARIS: Russia’s Dinara Safina mounted an astonishing comeback from a set and 2-5 down to send top seed Maria Sharapova crashing out of the French Open in an epic fourth round battle on Monday.

Safina, the 13th seed, triumphed 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2, saving a match point along the way, in a tie which lasted almost three hours and will now meet compatriot Elena Dementieva for a place in the women’s semifinals.

The victory echoed Safina’s three-set win over Sharapova at the same stage in 2006 when she recovered from 1-5 down in the final set and it came in the most dramatic of circumstances.

She wasted two set points in the opening tie-break, battled from 2-5 in the second set, saving a match point in the ninth game, before recovering from 2/5 down in the second set tie-break.

Monday’s famous victory was also Safina’s third win in six career meetings against her fellow Russian and postponed, at least for another year, Sharapova’s dreams of winning the only Grand Slam title to have eluded her.

“I had many opportunities but I guess it was a combination of not taking those chances and being a little unlucky at times,” said Sharapova.

“Physically you have to stick with her. She’s had great success on clay and is a really tough opponent on this surface. It went in the wrong direction really fast. It was just one of those days.”

But Sharapova believes she is close to modifying her game to the Roland Garros claycourts.

“It’s a thin line between winning and losing. This stuff isn’t easy but I want to do everything perfectly.”

Safina demonstrated her claycourt credentials in May when she won the lucrative Berlin tournament, beating Justine Henin, to send the former World No. 1 into retirement, Serena Williams and then Dementieva in the final.

Sharapova broke to lead 4-3 in the first set when a Safina double fault, topped off by a crunching crosscourt backhand, put the top seed in charge. However, Safina hit back in the eighth game to level the tie on a damp, humid Suzanne Lenglen Court.

Safina then squandered two set points in the tie-break when she led 6-4, and Sharapova made her pay by claiming the next four points to take the opener.

Safina carved out a break in the first game of the second set before heavy rain forced the players off court for 90 minutes.

When they returned, Safina held to lead 2-0, but Sharapova then ran away with the next five games to lead 5-2 before her 22-year-old opponent mounted her recovery.

Safina saved a match point in the ninth game before pulling level at 5-5.

There was another dramatic twist in the tie-break where the battling Safina came back from 2-5 down to claim the next five points and level the match when a Sharapova approach took a net cord and went out.

After breaking each other in the opening two games of the decider, Safina held her nerve on a fourth break point in the sixth game to lead 4-2 and backed it up to go 5-2.

A shell-shocked Sharapova saved a match point in the next game but then handed Safina a famous win when she hit a dispirited forehand long.

Below par

Meanwhile, a below par Roger Federer was made to work hard by unseeded Julien Benneteau of France before winning a rain-hit match 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 to reach the men’s quarterfinals.

The Swiss star has dropped just one set en route to the last eight where he will play Fernando Gonzalez of Chile for a place in the semifinals, but he will have cause for concern over how he struggled to kill off his lowly-ranked opponent.

“He played a great match today but it was tough for both us with the conditions,” said the top seed.

Good display

The big-hitting Fernando Gonzalez of Chile matched his best ever Roland Garros performance by defeating Robby Ginepri of the United States 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-1 to enter the quarterfinals. And, former runner-up Elena Dementieva reached her second quarterfinal here with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win over fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva whose game collapsed in the deciding set of their fourth round tie.

India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and his Chinese partner Jie Zheng upset sixth seeds Cara Black of Zimbawe and Australian Paul Hanley to march into the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event.

The unseeded Indo-Chinese duo defeated Black-Hanley pair 7-6(2), 6-1 in the second round, which lasted over an hour on the clay court.

Bhupathi-Zheng pair will meet Virginie Razzano of France and Rogier Wassen of the Netherland in the last eight stage of the prestigious tournment. Razzano and Wassen pulled off a 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 0-1 (6-10) win over Belarussian Olga Govortsova and David Martin of USA in their second round encounter.

Yuki Bhambri posts win

India had more good news as Yuki Bhambri and Ilija Vicic of Serbia clinched a straight set victory in their opening match of the boys’ doubles event.

The seventh seeded Indo-Serbian combine defeated Giacomo Miccini of Italy and Borut Puc of Slovakia 7-5, 6-3 to enter the second round.

Bryans lose

The American twins Bob and Mike Bryan, the world’s top doubles team, crashed out losing 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(1) to unseeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Peru’s Luis Horna in the quarterfinals. — Agencies

THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Fourth round: Men: 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Julien Benneteau (Fra) 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; 24-Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-1.

Women: 7-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt 11-Vera Zvonareva(Rus) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2; 10-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt 22-Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) 6-2, 6-4; 13-Dinara Safina (Rus) bt 1-Maria Sharapova (Rus) 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2.

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