Kuerten’s the perfect clay play model

Kuerten sealed his comprehensive victory with a huge firstserve after two hours four minutes.

The 28th seed will play either Spanish 23rd seed Feliciano Lopez or South Korean lucky loser Lee Hyung-taik in the last 16.

Marat Safin spent 24 minutes finishing off Felix Mantilla on Friday, finally beating the Spaniard 11-9 in the fifth set of a match which spanned two days. The now-moustachioed Russian triumphed 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-7 11-9 to reach the third round.

Safin’s colourful antics throughout the theatrical match — it resumed at 7-7 on Friday — contrasted with Guillermo Coria’s straightforward victory over Croatian Mario Ancic, the third-seeded Argentine winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-2. A strong favourite for the title, Coria will next face Nicolas Escude for a place in the quarters. The Frenchman beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 7-5, 6-7, 6-2.

In the women’s draw Lindsay Davenport advanced comfortably, beating Marissa Irvin 6-1, 6-4 before allowing herself to look deeper into the draw.

Second seed Serena Williams eased into the fourth round on Saturday with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over unseeded Croatian Silvija Talaja. (Reuters)