PARIS. June 5: Italy's Renzo Furlan overcame a shaky start Monday to win his fourth-round match against Scott Draper, a little-known qualifier from Australia who had engineered three straight upsets at the French Open, report agencies.
The 135th-ranked Draper, celebrating his 21 st birthday on Center Court, began the match with seeming invincibility — mixing aces and ground-stroke winners to build a quick 4-0 lead.
But Fur)an. trailing 5-2. suddenly took command, win-^nlng—IO straight games as-Drapers errors multiplied. Though Draper settled down in the final set. Furlan rolled to a 7-5. 6-1. 7-6 (8-6) victory.
Draper — who had beaten three players in the Top 50 to reach the round of 16 — was able to connect on only 51 per u nt of his first serves, and mack' 64 unforced errors to 35 for Furlan.
Furlan, ranked 61st. had never before reached a Grand Slam fourth round. He will play in the quarterfinals against either defending champion Sergi Bruguera or Magnus Larsson.
Sergi Bruguera. who is hoping to become only the sixteenth player in Grand Slam history to win a major title three limes running, edged into the quarter-finals when he beat dangerous Magnus Larsson of Sweden 6-1. 2-6. 7-5. 7-6 (7-4).
But the usually mild-mannered Spaniard was Jeered off the court at the end of a dramatic two and half hour match after staging a- furwus argument with the umpire over a controversial line-call.
The incident, which lasted several minutes, occurred in the vital fourth-round tiebreak.
Bruguera. leading 1 -0 in the decider, insisted that German umpire Soeieii Fiiemel leave his seat and inspect a mark alter a big forehand from Larsson had been called good by the linesman.
Friemel refused, and after along discussion with Bruguera. Australian supervisor Bill Gilmour was called on. He signalled to Bruguera to play on.
"He should have had a warning. but Im not the umpire. Its not my problem shrugged Larsson, who was a semlfinalist last year
"1 don't blame Sergi for wanting the mark checked. There's no problem with that because this Is a clay-court tournament But obviously it should not have gone on for five minutes
Actually it didn't upset my concentration and It got the crowd behind me so 1 don't think It was a disadvantage for me. If we had gone five sets the crowd would probably have cheered for me even more."
Bruguera who was booed as he left the court, now faces
Renzo Furlan.
A few hours and showers later on Sunday. Pierce’s dream to become the first home player in over a quarter of a century to win the women's crown turned into a nightmare.
The 20-year-old Pierce, a finalist twelve months ago. crashed 2-6. 3-6 in dramatic 75 minute showdown against Croatia's Iva Majoll and later revealed she had suffered a groin-strain.
The last time the Roland Garros women’s title was won by a French player was In 1967 when Francolse Durr defeated Australia’s Lesley Turner.
Piterce, who had been demonstratively grimacing throughout, finally went off court for three minutes after the first game of the second-set to have her thigh bandaged.
But the 17-year-old Majoll looked far from tense at the stoppage. With a broad smile and to the crowd’s delight, she offered one of her rackets to a ball-boy and started knocking -up.
Majoll. a finalist at Barcelona earlier this year and seeded 12th. had come on court brimming with confi dence having dropped Just 14 games since the tournament started and she quickly began to set the pace from the back of the court with blistering groundstrokes.
This has to be my best-ever win.’ said Majoll. her face blossoming into an enormous grin
Mary has been playing so well. Winning this much has given me so much confidence."
Agassi, who like Becker is seeking to complete a career Grand Slam sweep here, rolled over El Aynaoui. 6-4. 6-2. 6-2 In a match interrupted for about three hours by rain.
Agassi will play next against No 9 seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov. a 6-3. 6-2. 6-2 winner over unseeded Alex Corretja of Spain.