Boys from Brazil march on into quarter-finals

Samba time at Roland Garros, the irresistible march of Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, the players' choice for ultimate glory come Sunday, and compatriot Fernando Meligeni, not as celebrated internationally but equally as effective in securing a place in the quarter-finals of the French Open Championships.

Indeed there is quite a South American presence in the last eight with the two Brazilians joined by Chile's Marcelo Rios and Uruguayan qualifier Marcelo Filippini.

Yesterday was exclusively about the bottom half of the men's draw, tangibly in deciding the last four quarter-finalists. Kuerten's victory over Bohdan Ulihrach in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, was predictable but should not camouflage the quality of tennis he produced.

Kuerten won the French Open in 1997 but conceded that the pressure of defending his title at Roland Garros last year weighed heavily. Unencumbered by the mantle of defending champion, he has flourished, cruising into the quarterfinals with the concession of just a single set.

Despite a somewhat languid beginning against Ulihrach - he trailed 3-0 - Kuerten gradually imposed his superiority, taking six of the next seven games. His Czech opponent posed several problems with his power-based game but the Brazilian invariably had the answer. He was extremely pleased with the manner in which he played: "Over the last two months, I have been playing wonderfully, with a lot of confidence.

"Now I think I am growing in this tournament too, playing better and better. I'm in good shape so far. He was too strong at the beginning. I changed the way I was playing a little bit, kept the ball deeper and this helped. I knew that he would try to hit winners all the time, but he had to miss too. I was very focused and concentrating on not making stupid mistakes that would make the match closer."

Kuerten is bidding to become the first player since Thomas Muster to complete clay's Grand Slam of the Monte Carlo, Italian and French Open in the same season. Having accomplished the first two legs, few would dispute his claims to complete the treble. Certainly not, Ulihrach. When asked whether he thought Kuerten would win the French Open, the Czech offered a tongue in cheek "could do".

On a more serious note he maintains that the Brazilian has only one serious rival for the title. "After I saw (Andre) Agassi play on Sunday, he is probably the only one who can stop him (Kuerten)." Ulihrach was adamant that neither Rios nor Felix Mantilla (the Spaniard was later knocked out of the championships by Meligeni) would beat Kuerten on this form.

Meligeni was an impressive victor, defeating Spanish clay court specialist Mantilla in three hours and seven minutes, 6-1, 5-7, 7-5, 76. Both players struggled on serve with a total of 14 breaks in the match, an 8-6 split in terms of the Brazilian. It was his ability to play the bigger points and, at times, his patience that proved decisive.

Leading two sets to one, Meligeni responded magnificently in the fourth set tie-break, producing some great tennis to take it 7-1 and with it keep alive the possibility of an all-Brazilian semi-final.

He now faces last year's beaten finalist and number six seed, Alex Corretja. The Spaniard, who spent all of Sunday in bed feeling ill, showed no debilitating signs as he crushed Austrian Stefan Koubek in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

Koubek suffered an ankle injury that hampered his movement somewhat. He found Corretja much too resilient in dealing with his powerful groundstrokes and Koubek was also guilty of a high unforced error count.

Arnaud di Pasquale, the last surviving Frenchman in the tournament perished at the hands of Pete Sampras's conqueror, Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3), 6-1. The first two sets were keenly contested, ending in tiebreaks: on both occasions Medvedev prevailed. Unusually, serve was broken on many occasions as both players squandered opportunities.

Di Pasquale certainly had plenty of opportunities but at crucial times was dogged by straightforward errors. The third set proved something of a procession for the Ukrainian who now faces Kuerten.

Today's action is dominated by the women's quarter-finals with the best contest likely to be the clash of former world number ones Steffi Graf and Lindsay Davenport.