Graf almost blown off course

There was almost as much clay on the baguettes as the courts as a capricious wind blew through the French Open here in Paris yesterday. "It plays like a hard court," was Steffi Graf's verdict. Harder for some than for others.

Monica Seles had to beat a combination of the blustery conditions and a partisan Centre Court crowd as well as a French opponent, Mary Pierce, but triumphed 6-4, 7-5.

Seles was broken to love when first serving for the match at 5-4, after the game had been delayed by spectators performing a Mexican wave. She broke back immediately and completed her victory with an emphatic ace down the middle.

Martina Hingis, the world No 1, lost a set to love before bouncing back to overwhelm Austria's Barbara Paulus, 6-3, 0-6, 6-0. Hingis now plays Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the quarter-finals.

Sanchez Vicario is one of only three surviving Spaniards of the 25 (18 men) who packed the singles draws a week ago. Sergi Bruguera and Galo Blanco are in action today. Gone is Alex Corretja, the hottest player of the clay-court season until yesterday

Graf, the last player to place a zero on Hingis's score sheet (the fifth set of the final of the WTA Championships in New York last November), experienced a few problems of her own yesterday. The defending singles champion was taken to three sets by Romania's Irina Spirlea en route to what is rapidly becoming a bi-weekly meeting with South Africa's Amanda Coetzer.

By contrast, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the men's title-holder, made short work of the big-serving Mark Philippoussis, defeating the Australian in 93 minutes, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

Kafelnikov, who missed the Australian Open in January after breaking a knuckle, said before the tournament that it would take a miracle for him to repeat his success. "What happened today was that Mark just gave me the match," he said.

Filip Dewulf not only qualified, but has made it to the last eight. The last man from Belgium to achieve that was Jacky Brichant, who lost to Australia's Mervyn Rose in the semi-finals in 1958.

Dewulf, ranked No 122 in the world, beat Corretja yesterday, and now plays Sweden's Magnus Norman, who followed up Friday's win against Pete Sampras, the world No 1, by frustrating Marc Rosset, of Switzerland. Rosset became so upset with himself that he took off his cap and kicked it. It proved to be one of his more accurate shots.

Corretja might have failed in his challenge for the championship, but he demonstrated why he was the recipient of the ATP Tour's Sportsmanship Award. The No 8 seed had a break point for 6-5 in the fourth set, but beckoned the umpire to check a mark after Dewulf played a drop shot which had been ruled out. The point was replayed, and was won by Dewulf.

The Spaniard then conceded the point that gave his opponent the game, first waving a hand to silence the whistling spectators after the baseline judge had called a Dewulf shot out, and then telling the umpire that the ball was good.

"I have to be honest," Corretja said, having lost, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5. "If I saw the ball on the line, I cannot say it was out.''

Norman, who began the event by defeating Britain's Greg Rusedski, 9-7 in the fifth set, wore Rosset down, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.

The 16-year-old Hingis accepted her blip against Paulus with characteristic aplomb. "It would have been a perfect match without the second set," she said. "When I went 3-0 down I didn't feel confident about winning the set, so I just tried to concentrate for the third. Everything depended on me - either I'm going to make more mistakes or more winners. You have to have character to deal with this game.''

Coetzer would concur. She had won only one set in her 10 previous matches against Conchita Martinez, but fought to send the Spanish No 7 seed the way of so many of her compatriots, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

"I knew I had to take a leap of faith and just hope for the best," the South African said. "The courts have been really dry, so there was a lot of sand. A lot of times it was tough to see.''