Entertaining Safin bids farewell to Paris in style

Marat Safin bowed out of his final French Open with a typical mix of brilliance and petulance.

Marat Safin bowed out of his final French Open with a typical mix of brilliance and petulance in a 7-6 7-6 4-6 3-6 10-8 defeat by French wildcard Josselin Ouanna on Wednesday.

The hotheaded Russian,who will retire at the end of the year,clawed himself back from two sets down to force a decider where he saved two match points before bashing a wild forehand wide to send his 134th-ranked opponent into the third round.

The 20th seed dug himself out of a hole with the type of exquisitely placed forehands that took him to two grand slam titles but then buried himself in deeper trouble with the sloppy shots that trigger his entertaining displays of frustration.

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Launching into several monologues directed at his racket,the former world number one kicked a ball and punched his racket when he fluffed easy shots and cheered himself when he unleashed unstoppable missiles that were only just inside the line.

A semi-finalist here in 2002,Safin will be counting on his sister Dinara to bring home a Roland Garros trophy after the world number one reached the third round with ease on Wednesday.