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Safin, Gasquet Tumble Out of French Open
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Russian Marat Safin tumbled out of the French Open as he lost to Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in a second round tie here on Wednesday.

"Life goes on, it's in second round only. I guess there will be another chance and I'll play better. The luck will be on my side," said the 22nd seed after the match.

"I feel like something doesn't come together, and that's why it's a lot of sad losses for the past from the beginning of the year."

Safin, who was making his ninth appearance at the second Grand Slam event of the year in Paris, lost to eventual champion Juan Carlos Ferrero in the 2002 semifinals. The 27-year-old has a 24-9 record at the clay-court major.

"I'm already downhill on my career. Of course I want to play tennis, and it would be a sad situation to leave with being a struggling player. So I really hope that I can change and play another three, four years."

Tipsarevic became the first player into the third round after the world No. 80 notched up the win in two hours and 38 minutes.

He will be facing world No. 9 Tommy Robredo, who defeated Greek qualifier Konstantinos Economidis 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.

"I was not thinking before I started the match that Marat is like a big, huge favorite of the match," the Serb said.

"And second of all, I know that this year, he hasn't been playing really great on clay courts."

There was also loss for home prospect Richard Gasquet, who was knocked out by Belgian Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-1 in two hours and 16 minutes.

For the third year in a row, Gasquet has made a second round exit and drops to 4-6 at the championship.

Vliegen will next meet No. 19 seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina, who scored a ruthless 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over Italian Simone Bolelli.

"I really did not feel good on the court today. In the first set, I had many set points. I didn't succeed. And then afterwards, mentally speaking, I just never managed to come back. I just didn't succeed. It was stressed," said a downcast Gasquet.

Fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko booked his place in the third round when he defeated Australian Werner Eschauer 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

Davydenko, who turns 26 on June 2, hit 16 winners and made 29 unforced errors. He converted seven of 12 break point opportunities.

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia cruised past Ecuadorian Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-0, 6-4.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2007)

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