Top-seeded Andy Roddick and defending champion Tim Henman lost their third-round matches in straight sets at the Paris Masters on Thursday.
Henman was defeated by unseeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 6-1, and Roddick succumbed to Belorussian qualifier Max Mirnyi 7-6 (2), 6-2.
PHOTO: AFP
Second-seeded Lleyton Hewitt eased into the quarters when No. 14 Nicolas Massu of Chile pulled out with a thigh injury at 3-4 down in the first set. Hewitt will play No. 6 Marat Safin, who comfortably beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 7-5.
Roddick lost his composure in a second set riddled with errors, and marked by a running feud with umpire Lars Graff.
With Mirnyi serving at 3-1 up, Roddick queried Graff's call and asked him, "Do you play golf?"
Graff said "No," to which Roddick replied, "Good, because if you did you should use your mulligan on that call."
At the changeover, Roddick continued his argument. He then pointed to a spot at the back of the court with his racket and urged Graff to look.
Roddick said after that he was ``more mad at myself'' than at the umpire, and praised Mirnyi.
"Max played well. He always serves good and didn't miss many volleys," Roddick said. "Sometimes you don't feel you're on the court against him. It can go by so quickly, it's hard to find a rhythm."
Mirnyi said beating Roddick went some way to softening the blow of Belarus' 4-0 Davis Cup semifinal loss to the United States in September.
"I didn't get the chance to play against Andy in Davis Cup when they beat us," Mirnyi said. "In a way, this was a revenge."
In Mirnyi's first Paris Masters quarterfinal, he'll face Robin Soderling of Sweden, who beat Cyril Saulnier of France 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Youzhny, meanwhile, sent third-seeded Henman scrambling to all corners of Bercy's center court and made the decisive break to move 6-5 ahead before closing out the first set on his serve.
Henman conceded his last five service games in the face of Youzhny's powerful backhand and forehand winners.
"He was very aggressive and served well," Henman said. "I wasn't sharp and my movement was sluggish. I couldn't dictate the rallies as I would have liked."
Henman looked untroubled for most of the opening set to move to a 5-4 lead, and then pressured Youzhny, who went 0-30 down on his serve.
But after that, Youzhny took control, limiting Henman to just two points on his opening two serves of the second set.
Racing to a 3-0 lead, Youzhny briefly stumbled when Henman broke him at love to claw back to 3-1 down.
Although Henman tried to rally, each time he attempted a winning shot the speedy Youzhny managed to retrieve it.
Henman must now focus on the season-ending Masters Cup, which begins in Houston on Nov. 15.
Youzhny, who won his second career title at St. Petersburg recently, faces a quarterfinal against Radek Stepanek after the Czech comfortably beat No. 17 seed Vince Spadea of the US 6-2, 6-3.
In other third-round matches, 13th-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina advanced past Tommy Haas of Germany 7-6 (4), 6-2, and Feliciano Lopez of Spain beat No. 11 Andrei Pavel of Romania, last year's runner-up, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo advanced to the quarterfinals at the Advanta Tennis Championships, defeating Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2.
Second-seeded Anastasia Myskina struggled Thursday but held on to beat Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios of Paraguay 6-4, 7-6 (0). Myskina trailed for much of the first set before rallying to tie at 4 and win.
Neffa-De Los Rios held a 3-1 lead in the second set before Myskina was able to find her game again and take a 6-5 lead. Neffa-De Los Rios won her service game to force the tiebreaker, but Myskina shut her out the rest of the way.
For the second straight match, sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva was pushed to the brink before beating her opponent, Nathalie Dechy of France, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Another Russian, seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova defeated Amy Frazier of the United States 6-4, 6-3, and eighth-seeded Alicia Molik of Australia beat Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro 7-5, 6-3.
Venus Williams needed a third-set tiebreaker to defeat 87th-ranked Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4). Williams, the fifth seed, led 5-4 in the first set but Fedak fought off six set points before losing on the game's eighth deuce. Fedak easily won the second set and opened a 3-1 lead in the third, but Williams fought back for a 5-4 lead.
Abigail Spears upset No. 4 seed and fellow American Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-2 Thursday to advance to the third round of the tournament.
Mary Pierce, the tournament's top seed, also won her second-round match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over challenger Mariana Diaz-Oliva.
Stephanie Dubois of Quebec lost to Alina Jidkova of Russia.
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