Hingis humbled by unheralded Farina

Martina Hingis became the latest high-ranking victim of the upstarts at the women's Paris Open indoor tournament yesterday when she was unceremoniously dumped out of contention by an unheralded Italian, Silvia Farina.

Hingis was made to look clumsy as she lost her second round match 6-3, 6-1 to Farina, who is ranked 55th in the world. "I don't know what happened," the Swiss sixth seed said. "I thought I didn't play so badly but she just didn't give me a chance. She played extremely well."

Farina will now meet Petra Begerow, the German who had her own moment of glory on Wednesday when she overcame the fourth seed, Mary Pierce of France.

Another French seed, Nathalie Tauziat, went out yesterday. The seventh seed was beaten by her little-known compatriot, Nathalie Dechy, in three sets, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

Dechy, a qualifier who will be 17 next week, faces a difficult quarter- final against the top seed, Iva Majoli of Croatia, who qualified for the third round without playing a match after her scheduled opponent, Sandrine Testud, withdrew with injury.

Magdalena Maleeva, the third seed, avoided becoming caught up in the mayhem. The Bulgarian, who had a bye through the first round, cruised through to the last eight with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Russia's Yelena Likhovtseva.