Clijsters falls at French

PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- Kim Clijsters of Belgium, a runner-up at Roland Garros a year ago, crashed out of the French Open Friday.

Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina converted five break-point opportunities en route to a 6-4, 6-0 third-round upset of the fourth-seeded Clijsters.

The 18-year-old aided Fernandez's cause, committing 61 unforced errors. Clijsters, who has complained of a sore shoulder, saved four match points before joining compatriot Justine Henin on the list of first-week casualties. A semifinalist last year, Henin was eliminated in the first round on Tuesday.

"I felt tired. My whole body was a little heavier," Clijsters said. "I just didn't play well. I tried to go for too many shots."

While Clijsters made a quick exit, second seed Venus Williams cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Italy's Rita Grande, the 31st seed.

On the men's side, top seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia needed four sets to get past No. 30 Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 6-1, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, while defending champion Gustavo Kuerten extended his French Open winning streak to 17 games with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 8-4 win over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

But the biggest surprise of the day involved Clijsters, who was knocked out by the 87th ranked player in the world. Clijsters struggled in her first two matches here and never had her way against Fernandez, who is making her debut in this tournament.

"I knew she was really aggressive and that she has a lot of strength so the main thing was to make her run, defend every point and to play deep," said Fernandez, who advanced to play 13th seed Elena Dementieva of Russia in the fourth round. "I'm very happy. She's a great player but I believed in my own possibilities."

Dementieva posted a 6-3, 6-0 win over Rossana Neffa-de los Rios of Paraguay.

Clijsters, whose mother Els is battling cancer, said that an upper arm injury suffered earlier this year was no excuse.

"I've gone through enough things to realize that there are worse things than losing a tennis match," Clijsters said.

At last year's event, American Jennifer Capriati survived a nightmare start and the longest third set in women's French Open history Saturday to beat Clijsters in the final, 1-6, 6-4, 12-10.

Williams needed little time on Friday, taking just 52 minutes to win her match with Grande.

Williams completely overpowered her foe and appeared to treat the match almost like a practice session, mixing up her serves and working on her sometimes unreliable forehand down the line. Her only flaws were eight straight unforced errors when she served for the match at 5-2.

"I felt OK going into the 5-4 game because I was serving pretty strong," said Williams, who is seeking her first French Open title. "I didn't feel the amount of pressure that she was going to hit winners on me because her game is not a power game, it's finesse."

Williams advances to play fellow American Chanda Rubin, who defeated 23rd-seed Anne Kremer of Luxembourg, 6-1, 6-0.

Hewitt needed over three hours to win his match. He raced through the first set in 34 minutes and won seven straight games spanning the second and third sets. After a minor lapse in concentration, Hewitt rallied from a 6-5 deficit in the crucial tiebreak.

"I feel like I know how to play at Grand Slams now," said Hewitt, the 2001 French Open champion. "After you win a Grand Slam, your confidence grows.

Hewitt advances to play 15th seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina, who defeated 17th seed and 1998 champion Carlos Moya of Spain, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (2-7), 6-12, 6-2.

After Canas and Moya split the first two sets on Court 1, officials evacuated the stadium after a suspicious-looking attache case was found under a bench.

The briefcase was found to be harmless and play resumed.

"This is something that has never happened while I've been playing," Moya said of the delay. "We just went and took a shower for half an hour. After that, we were back and things were going the same way."

Playing his 400th career match, Kuerten left Gonzalez flustered by forcing 88 errors and serving 20 aces. Kuerten advances to play Albert Costa of Spain, the 20th seed, who defeated Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 7-5.

"I'm very pleased, not only because of the way I've been playing but with the support I'm getting," said Kuerten, a fan favorite. "It does good to any player here. It makes you glow."

In other men's matches Friday, third seed Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4; and Alex Corretja of Spain, the 18th seed, eliminated Frenchman Arnaud Clement, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 8-6.

No. 22 Andrei Pavel of Romania defeated Albert Montanes of Spain, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina defeated Fernando Vicente of Spain, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

On the women's side, sixth seed Monica Seles of the United States, a winner of nine Grand Slam titles, cruised past Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-3.

Amelie Mauresmo of France, the 10th seed, routed Eva Bes of Spain, 6-1, 6-1; Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, the 11th seed, topped 18th seed Tatiana Panova of Russia, 6-3, 6-1 and Paola Suarez of Argentina defeated Nathalie Dechy of France, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.