Tennis: Ivanisevic twisted out by Berasategui: Larsson saves six match points in astonishing recovery to guarantee French Open an unseeded finalist

THE lower half of the men's singles draw, something of a black hole, produced two extraordinary matches at the French Open here at Roland Garros yesterday and has guaranteed an unseeded finalist: Alberto Berasategui or Magnus Larsson.

Berasategui, he of the bizarre twisted grip - he describes it as 'extreme Western' - which delivers forehand shots with the same side of the racket as the backhand, took advantage of Goran Ivanisevic's efforts to bamboozle himself, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

Larsson was guilty of, well, grand Larssony. The Swede saved six match points in the third set of his quarter-final against Germany's Hendrick Dreekman and left his opponent in a state of shock while winning 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-0,

6-1.

The only previous match between Ivanisevic and Berasategui was in the second round here last year, when Ivanisevic's powerful serve dictated the points to the extent that he was able to win 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. Yesterday, the fifth seed's serve was so much off beam that the Spaniard counter-punched almost at will and was delighted when the Croat attempted to take refuge on the baseline.

'It was a disgusting game,' Ivanisevic said, 'I never played like that in my life.' The Croat has expressed similar sentiments after other examples of under-achievement. 'How can I wait on my chance to come in (to the net) if I cannot put two or three balls on the court? I gave him a nice present. I said, 'Here, you are a nice guy, go to the semi-finals'.'

Berasategui accepted with glee, pounding shots past Ivanisevic for an hour and 36 minutes and almost teasing his opponent by delivering his only two aces in the concluding game, the second on match point. 'When I was young, I saw big players like Boris Becker finishing matches with an ace,' he said. 'Maybe that was in my mind.'

There seems little prospect of his treating us to a Becker impersonation at Wimbledon. Berasategui is another clay-courter who has yet to visit the All England Club, and it is not on his itinerary this year.

The last unseeded finalist here was Mikael Pernfors, who lost to Ivan Lendl in 1986. If Larsson considered towards the end of that third set against Dreekman that any chance of emulating his countryman had gone, he did not show it. He twice served his way out of trouble in the 10th game, and four times more in the 12th game.

As Dreekman said: 'I don't think I made a fault on the court, because he was serving unbelievably on the match points. I didn't have any chance. I couldn't do anything.'

The experience drained the German of confidence, and he even had to save a couple of break points to win the fourth game of the final set and avoid a whitewash after losing the third-set tie-break. 'At 3-0 in the fourth set,' Dreekman said, 'my thought was to let the set go and try to get the fifth. But it didn't work.'

Larsson, who wrapped up the fourth and fifth sets in 43 minutes, had never before won a match from two sets down. 'I admit I was very lucky,' he said. 'I had all the fortune you need to have with those things.'

Pete Sampras declined to attend the world champions' dinner here after losing his quarter-final match against his compatriot, Jim Courier. Steffi Graf joined the other champions of various age groups to receive her trophy. Last year Courier did not attend.

FRENCH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS (Paris): Men's singles quarter-finals: A Berasategui (Sp) G IVANISEVIC (Croa) 6-4 6-3 6-3; M Larsson (Swe) bt H Dreekmann (Ger) 3-6 6-7 7-6 6-0 6-1. Men's doubles quarter-finals: D ADAMS (Aus) and A OLHOVSKIY (Rus) bt J ELTINGH and P HAARHUIS (Neth) 6-4 6-4; B BLACK (Zim) and J STARK (US) bt W Masur (Aus) and D Pate (US) 6-4 6-3. Women's doubles, quarter-finals: L DAVENPORT and L RAYMOND (US) bt N Provis (Aus) and E Reinach (SA) 6-1 6-0; J HALARD and N TAUZIAT (Fr) bt N Medvedeva (Ukr) and L Neiland (Lat) 6-2 4-6 6-4; G FERNANDEZ (US) and N ZVEREVA (Bela) bt S Farina (It) and G Helgeson (US) 6-3 6-2; A COETZER (SA) and I GORROCHATEGUI (Arg) bt E Maniokova (Rus) and L Meskhi (Geo) 7-5 6-3. Mixed doubles third round: N MEDVEDEVA (Ukr) and P HAARHUIS (Neth) bt M NAVRATILOVA (US) and M WOODFORDE (Aus) 6-7 6-4 7-5. Quarter-finals: K Boogert and M Ootings (Neth) bt J HETHERINGTON (Can) and P GALBRAITH (US) 3-6 7-5 6-2; H SUKOVA (Cz Rep) and T WOODBRIDGE (Aus) bt MEDVEDEVA and HAARHUIS 7-5 5-7 6-2.

Seeded players in capitals.