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Stuck on clay

As far as Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter and Tim Henman are concerned, construction workers should rather tear down court Suzanne Lenglen for good, and then rebuild the court central once these French Open championships are over next Sunday.

The three players stand for attacking serve and volley tennis, and all went out on Suzanne Lenglen, Sampras in the second and Rafter and Henman in the third.

The slow clay does not suit their game in the first place, but things are even worse on that specific court because it is considered the slowest of them all at Roland Garros.

To make things worse, they all lost to true clay-courters, Andrei Medvedev, Fernando Meligeni and Alberto Berasategui respectively. Henman came closest, wasting a 3-1 lead in the third set after winning the first two and two break points for a double break 4-1 in the fifth against the 1994 runner-up Berasategui.

Greg Rusedski was the only all-out attacker left in the men's field by yesterday, but was due out on Suzanne Lenglen later in the day against Marcelo Filippini.

''Clay is a struggle for me,'' said Sampras, who has been an early round loser for three straight years now on Suzanne Lenglen in his 10th failed attempt to win the only Grand Slam eluding him.

The last serve and volley player to win at Roland Garros was Yannick Noah back in 1983, the last to react the final Stefan Edberg in 1989.

Going into the second week, the men's field was without their three top seeds Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Sampras and Rafter.

As a result, the second round loser Kafelnikov (who beat Michael Chang in a first round match of previous champions) may just hang on to the world number 1 position.

Because of an initial five challengers only the 1997 champ Gustavo Kuerten is left. Kuerten is looking strong in the men's field, and so is ninth seed Marcelo Rios. Both players boast two clay court titles apiece these days.

Kuerten can dethrone Kafelnikov at the top if he wins the title and gets enough bonus points en route. So far, he is oozing confidence: ''I am now in the best form of the year, maybe even in my career. Hopefully I can continue like this.''

In the women's field there was plenty of talk about creatine after Mary Pierce said she used this substance in training to regain her fitness and build up muscle mass.

However, the French diva went out early again, to Conchita Martinez, amid the familiar jeers from the crowd. L'equipe daily sarcastically presented a headline ''Best of Mary'' and listed three medical timeouts, two walks off court, a warning and 64 unforced errors.

Tournament doctor Bernard Montalvan said an ATP tour study from last December revealed that 57 players used creatine, but that it's secondary effects had not affected Pierce.

''I don't think there is any relationship between creatine and her state of health,'' insisted Montalvan.

At number 8, Pierce was the highest seed to bow out early amid plenty of on-court excitement in especially two cases.

World number 1 Martina Hingis won a hyped second round rematch of the Australian Open final against 17th-ranked local Amelie Mauresmo. The two publically dislike each other, even more after Hingis claimed that the muscular Mauresmo played like a man.

Hingis said she was relieved after her 6-3, 6-3 win, but also felt sorry for Mauresmo: ''I think people are making a much bigger thing out of her than she really is. She is a girl and a player like everybody else. She had a great tournament in Australia, but Wednesday was probably just too much for her.''

Hingis also knew all the way that Mary Joe Fernandez would oust the high-flying Serena Williams in the third round, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.

"I hit with Mary Joe in the morning, she wouldn't miss a ball. I give her a good try against Serena because she is from the older generation and a very smart player,'' Hingis said.

It was a harsh wakeup call for Serena, who along with sister Venus throughout the week had claimed they were great players and contenders for the French Open crown and world number 1 position.

''I never even dreamed in my wildest nightmares that I would go out in the third round. I should have been taken off the court and immediately asked to leave the facilities, never to return again,'' she said.

But Venus is still in the tournament, and so are former champions Steffi Graf and Monica Seles as well.

AP

DAP