Tennis French Open: Too premature to be a Russian revolution but a heartening start in Paris. A little buckling in the games of the main protagonists, a few sets that leaked away here and there, some hopes shaken and one completely shattered, that of third seed Venus Williams, who yesterday fell to the little-known Russian teenager Vera Zvonareva in the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

Not to be outdone, seventh seed Jennifer Capriati departed soon after Williams when she lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to another, equally unheralded, Russian, 20-year-old Nadia Petrova. With the injured Lindsay Davenport also going down to the 31-year-old Conchita Martinez, only two Americans, Serena Williams and Chanda Rubin, remain in the last eight at Roland Garros.

It was the Williams departure that was most shocking and in achieving it Zvonareva has stripped away the Williams sisters' unbeatable veneer. Serena is now by herself. That alone will strengthen the resolve of the remaining players, most of all the two young Russians, who face each other tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals. One of them is certain of a semi-final slot, probably against Belgium's Kim Clijsters.

It will be the first Grand Slam final since the Australian Open last year that Venus has not contested.

Watched dolefully by Serena and her mother and coach, Oracene, Venus fell against a youngster who sensed her opponent was playing far from her best. While the result was sensational, the state of the Williams game was more troubling. Lacking belief in her shots, missing by measures of feet rather than inches and failing even to hit one ace in a contest disfigured by 12 double faults and over 75 unforced errors, Williams, although having prepared for just one week due to injury, is maybe at a crossroads in her career.

"I don't think I had good preparation. If you've time out before a tournament you've really got to play a lot smarter and bank on experience. I think I should have played smarter," she said.

"I was really off. I just need to go home and prepare. I've got to move on to the next tournament. Sure it's disappointing. I had a tough time keeping the balls in. I did what I did today. What else could I do?"

Despite winning the first set 2-6, Williams' serve hopelessly deserted her and allowed the 18-year-old to fight her way into the match, and the Russian won the second set 6-2 to level.

Williams continued to flirt with danger and once again found herself in trouble a break down in the third as the inexperience of the younger player refused to show. The Williams ground strokes were wild and even when Zvonareva's second serve sat up the American as often sprayed it out of the court as hit a winner.

Experience should have told Williams to patiently keep the ball in play against a player in Paris for only the second time but she was decidedly shaky while Zvonareva's relentless back-court game was wonderfully on song. The longer it went on the more fiercely the young Russian fought, challenging the weaker Williams forehand at every turn.

Finally, Williams found herself facing two break points at 4-4 in the third, Zvonareva taking the second one for 5-4 with a breathless forehand deep to the corner.

Even when faced with serving out the match, the teenager didn't flinch against the clearly nervous Williams, who by that stage had lost faith in her ability to put the ball in court.

Zvonareva earned two match points, a deep drive to Williams's backhand on the 48th minute of the set forcing the American to return wide of the tramlines.

Capriati also took three sets to fold but unlike Williams was at a loss to explain how it happened.

"This was the best I've seen her play. Everything was going her way. I'd been working so hard and thought I had pretty good chances this tournament," she said.

When it was put to Capriati that younger players are now finding the same level of play as the established top performers, the American was, probably correctly, dismissive of any serious threat to the current order.

"First of all it's Serena and Venus dominating everything - now it's they've gotta raise it to another level," she gasped.