Williams crashes out

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:31

The American, who has never won the title at Roland Garros, failed to land a game in the first set.

Although she fared better in the second, 29th seed Szavay ended up a 6-0 6-4 winner on Suzanne Lenglen court.

It is the first time Szavay has reached the fourth round here, while Williams has lost at the round-three stage in four of the last five years.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Portuguese Michelle Larcher de Brito was forced to defend her loud shrieking and grunting after she fell to a 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 loss to France’s Aravane Rezai in the third round.

Rezai complained several times to the umpire about the often inappropriate noises coming from the other side of the net, which came not just as she struck the ball but also when her opponent made a mistake.

The highly-rated teenager, who attended the famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy from the age of nine, was bombarded with questions after the match about her squealing, but she maintained it was simply part of her game.

Rezai, who makes the fourth round here for the first time, is one of two Frenchwomen left in the draw, along with Virginie Razzano. Nineteen home-based players started out.

Rezai will face top seed Dinara Safina who recovered from a testing start to ultimately race to a straight-sets victory over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The world number one needed just 67 minutes to post a 6-2 6-0 victory on Court One.

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