Tennis: Lucie Safarova knocked out fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo in the French Open third round at Roland Garros.
25th seed Safarova also beat Mauresmo in this year's Australian Open, so the Czech player has something of a hex over the world number five in the Grand Slam's at the moment.
Mauresmo has never got beyond the quarter-finals of her home slam, and the writing was on the wall early again this year as Safarova stormed to a 6-3 first set win in 44 minutes on the Phillipe Chatrier Court.
Mauresmo was more competitive in the second set, and eventually forced a tie-break. However, Safarova prevailed 7-3 in that to run out a 6-3 7-6 winner.
Safarova will face Anna Chakvatadze after she beat Ai Sugiyami of Japan in straight sets.
The ninth seed from Russia eventually prevailed 6-4 6-4 after a
tough battle on Suzanne Lenglen Court that lasted one hour and 22
minutes.
Maria Sharapova overcame her persistent shoulder injury to
beat fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in straight sets in their
French Open third round clash.
The number two seed breezed through the first set 6-1 in just 28 minutes on Phillipe Chatrier, but was in obvious discomfort throughout.
Kudryavtseva looked like taking the second set when she opened up a 4-1 lead, but Sharapova demonstrated all her resolve when winning five games on the bounce to secure a 6-1 6-4 victory.
Sharapova will play the winner of Patty Schnyder and Karin Knapp in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Ana Ivanovic wasted no time in sealing a straight sets victory over Ioana Raluca Olaru.
The 19-year-old seventh seed was on the Suzanne Lenglen court just one hour and five minutes as she breezed past Olaru 6-2 6-0.
The Serbian reached the quarter-final here two years ago after beating Amelie Mauresmo, and this year she will have to beat either Anabel Medina Garrigues or Daniela Hantuchova to reach that stage.
Svetlana Kuznetsova also recorded a routine third round win over Dominika Cibulkova.
The number three seed was runner-up here last year and she will have ambitions of playing in the final once more after reaching the fourth round for the third successive year.
Cibulkova didn't go down without a fight, but Kuznetsova was too strong for her opponent in the end, running out a comfortable 6-2 6-3 winner after one hour and 27 minutes on Court 1.
Kuznetsova will play the winner of Shahar Peer and Katarina Srebotnik in the fourth round.