Kuerten scrapes into quarters, Ferrero has it easy at French Open

Ossian Shine

French Open top seed Gustavo Kuerten produced a lion-hearted display on Sunday, fighting back from two sets and match point down to beat American qualifier Michael Russell 3-6 4-6 7-6 6-3 6-1 and reach the last eight.

The world number one, champion at Roland Garros in 1997 as well as last year, scratched out a love heart with his racket on the Centre Court clay, dropped to his knees and blew kisses to the crowd after surviving the marathon fourth-round encounter.

He next plays Russian seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who beat Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 1-6 6-4, in a repeat of last year's quarter-final which Kuerten won in five sets.

"I was on my way out of the tournament," the Brazilian admitted after beating Russell.

Fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, in contrast, crushed Swedish 14th seed Thomas Enqvist 6-2 6-4 6-2.

"A year on, I am a lot stronger," said last year's semifinalist, who will next face sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt or Argentine Guillermo Canas.

The pair were locked with Hewitt leading 3-6 6-7 6-2 6-3 4-2 when poor light stopped play.

Fourth seed Jennifer Capriati brushed aside fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy 7-5 6-1 and will play Serena Williams for a place in the semifinals after the sixth seed overwhelmed Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3 6-1.

"I think it will be a great match, it's great for Americans," Williams said.

Stylish Belgian Justine Henin became the first player through to the last eight when she strolled past Austria's Barbara Schett 6-3 6-4.

The 14th seed will next meet 17-year-old Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya, who beat Italy's Silvia Farina Elia 6-2 6-4.

World number 122 Russell, who had been one point from defeat in his opening qualifying match for the $9.6 million Grand Slam tournament, received a huge ovation as he left the arena after coming so close to knocking out Kuerten.

"It is unbelievable how a career can turn around. In my first qualifying game I was match point down, then I am in the fourth round against Guga, two sets and match point up."

Kuerten was caught cold on a bitter morning in the French capital, losing his serve three times in the first set.

The second was closer, but Kuerten could still not find any consistency and lost it when Russell's disguised backhand down the line wrong-footed him on set point.

The world number one pulled a forehand into the net to go 2-4 down in the third and it looked all over as Russell moved 5-2 ahead and earned a match point in game nine.

Kuerten held his nerve, though, to break back and force a tiebreak, which he took 7-3.

As the sun came out, Kuerten's class started to shine through and early breaks in the next two sets secured his win.

Even an egg thrown onto the court at 5-0 in the first set failed to break her concentration as she took it 6-1.

Testud, playing with a rhinestone loveheart glued to her left arm for luck, bounced back to take the second 6-2, the first set Hingis has dropped in the tournament.

But the world number one recovered well, winning the third 6-2 to complete her 15th straight victory over the Frenchwoman.

"I read in the papers that she would do anything to beat me in this match and that it would make up for the other 14 losses, so I knew she was going to be fighting very hard," Hingis said.

The fourth women's quarter-final will be between number 12 seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium and unseeded Hungarian Petra Mandula.

Clijsters beat Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova 6-4 4-6 6-3, while Mandula defeated Italian Rita Grande 6-2 6-3.