Serena Williams took just 40 minutes to thrash Barbara Schett at the French Open on Friday in a third round match that bordered on the embarrassing. But Andre Agassi can hold his head high after a breathtaking 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Xavier Malisse. While Schett provided no resistance whatsoever to the women’s top seed during a 6-0, 6-0 ordeal, an irrepressible Agassi was full of praise for his Belgian opponent afterwards. “He is an incredibly talented player? Sometimes you are watching him playing instead of watching the ball,” the men’s second seed said. Malisse, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, played with flair and power throughout but came up against a brick wall in the form of Agassi. “You know, today I constructed the match very well. played well at the right time, at the end of each set, and finished it off,” Agassi said. He will next face Flavio Saretta after the Brazilian beat Spain’s Galo Blanco. In the women’s draw Serena, despite committing a number of errors, was simply too strong for Schett in a match lacking even a modicum of subtlety or guile. Tactics were an irrelevancy as both players struggled to find any consistency. At least when defending champion Serena’s shots landed in court they were hit with great power, a difference which won her the match with ease. “I just played very good today,” Serena said when stopped as she was leaving the court. There was little else she could say and still save her opponent’s blushes but Schett’s reaction at the end told a different story. A former world No.7 — and conqueror of Serena’s elder sister Venus here two years ago — Schett won just six points in the second set and 20 in the entire match. Sixteen of those came from unforced errors. In fact the Austrian hit just two winners the entire match. When a clumsy attempt at a drop-shot landed half-way up the net while facing match point she jogged to the net and smashed a ball high into the stands. Shaking her head and smiling in embarrassment she embraced Serena before heading back to the locker room, flushed and smiling shyly. Serena will next face Japan’s Ai Sugiyama after the 16th seed beat Meghann Shaughnessy of the U.S. 6-1, 6-4. While Schett’s discomfort had been evident to all on centre court, Wayne Ferreira’s agony was evident to anyone within hearing range of court one. The South African let out a chilling shriek of agony before collapsing on the court after injuring his groin during his match with 11th seed Rainer Schuettler. Amelie Mauresmo thrilled her home fans with a powerful 6-3, 6-4 win over Fabiola Zuluaga to reach the fourth round. (Reuters) ON THE SIDE LINES So near and yet so far French hope Julien Varlet was just a point away from causing an upset in his second-round match against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen before losing out in five sets having won the first two 6-1, 6-1 and had a match point in the third. Varlet, 25, ended up covered in clay as he leapt around the court - and even collided with the drinks machine as he chased down one return. His style stems from his time as a would-be footballer. “I used to be a goalkeeper,” he smiled, when asked why throwing himself left and right came so naturally. Morariu remembers Gullikson Corina Morariu, who lost out in singles and doubles yesterday, paid tribute to the memory of Tim Gullikson, former coach of Pete Sampras who succumbed to brain cancer in 1996. Morariu herself has only recently returned from a two-year battle against leukaemia and her father was Gullikson’s personal neurologist. Morariu, 25, said she had drawn inspiration from a man she said had been like a second father to her. “I got a lot of strength from him. You’d talk to him on the phone and think he was as healthy as can be. Then you would see him and see how sick he was.” No dallying for Dally n Dally Randriantefy is not one for dallying after reaching the third round of the women’s singles. The 26-year-old Madegascan was not expected to get past Belgian fourth seed Justine Hewnin-Hardenne in her next match but she is delighted just to be here after her former manager vanished - with a large portion of her earnings - seven years ago, which forced the world No. 83 to quit the circuit. “Like idiots we didn’t sign a contract,” she explained. (Reuters)
