?????in Paris "Guga" scraped a heart with his racquet on the clay of Centre Court. A little saccharine from the Lord of cool, the prince of dishevelment. But Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten had reason to be, as Goran Ivanisevic used gloriously overstate, "a little out of his mind".
Kuerten just survived the full metal jacket assault of the unheralded Michael Russell. The young American, who had been a match point away from not making it through the qualifying event, held the Brazilian to match point in the third set of their fourth round match.
Two sets up and 5-3 ahead in the third and Russell had in his hand what qualifiers only ever get once in a life-time against a world number one - a chance.
It took 26 balls, one of which hit the line, but a forehand winner finally arrested Russell's exotic run. Winning the set 7-6, Kuerten then barely drew breath, taking the fourth and fifth 6-3, 6-1. Next stop Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
There was similar drama when sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt stepped out against unseeded Guillermo Canas. The Argentinian took the first two sets before Hewitt came back into the match with typical fire and aggression. The Aussie took the match to the fifth set before it was cancelled due to bad light after three hours and 53 minutes. Hewitt led 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 4-2.
The winner meets Juan Carlos Ferrero in the next round. Ferrero has been one of the quietly impressive figure thus far and came through against Thomas Enqvist in straight sets.
Marat Safin's raging, silent departure was Saturday's distraction. The Russian, who punctuated his match against the wonderfully obdurate Fabrice Santoro with guttural profanities and cynical bouts of laughter, at his own apparent ineptitude, departed in five sets, the final one slipping away 6-1.
In the women's draw the big names inexorably progressed. Jennifer Capriati, into the quarter-finals and yet to drop a set, was initially extended by Meghann Shaughnessy but took the first set 7-5. That was the high point of the 16th seed's threat to her compatriot as a simple higher gearing saw Shaughnessy's warrior instincts fizzle as Capriati thumped her 6-1 in the second act.
Belgian teenager Justine Henin made short work of Barbara Schett 6-3, 6-4. The 18year-old now old faces 17-yearold Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya for a place in the semi-final. Martina Hingis was out of sorts. But just for one set. She opened her match cruising 6-1 ahead, dropped the second 2-6 against Sandrine Testud, then painlessly finished off the last remaining French woman 6-2 in the third. The egg that missed her represented the general feeling of the home crowd.
And Kim Clijsters? More of youth's unquenchable zest. The unseeded Henrieta Nagyova would have thought she had a chance taking the first set 4-6. But like Capriati this 17-yearold has shown several speeds, taking the next sets 6-4 6-2.
Serena Williams fired an altogether bigger gauge over 69 minutes against Nadia Petrova winning 6-3, 6-1. Another first, the younger Williams' sister also dips her toe into the quarterfinals for the first time.
