A half-hearted Juan Carlos Ferrero surrendered his French Open title without so much as a whimper when he lost to 77th-ranked Igor Andreev in the second round today.
Hampered by rib and stomach injuries, the Spaniard stumbled to a 6-4 6-2 6-3 defeat in fading sunshine on centre court.
Serena Williams narrowly avoided a similar fate, the second seed was made to scramble and scrap all the way before finally seeing off 100th-ranked Maria Kirilenko of Russia 4-6 6-2 6-4.
Serena's elder sister Venus toiled for an hour and 21 minutes to beat Jelena Kostanic of Croatia 6-3 6-3. That win set up a last-32 clash against former champion Mary Pierce who pummelled Spain's Gala Leon Garcia 6-1 6-1.
Ferrero's exit was an ignominious one for a player who had never before lost earlier than the semi-finals at Roland Garros, and it matched that of women's champion Justine Henin-Hardenne yesterday.
"It's very difficult to defend a title when you are not 100 per cent," Ferrero said. "I don't feel too good physically. I can't always get to the ball, I arrive too late. It was very difficult to stay in the match with two injuries."
Roger Federer made many friends on the centre court with a crowd-pleasing victory over Nicolas Kiefer to reach the third round. The world number one had never won a match on the Parisian centre stage before but so enthralled was the crowd by his 6-3 6-4 7-6 victory, it will be hard for organisers to schedule him anywhere other than the main arena in future.
Like Ferrero, Federer was far from his best but against Kiefer he never had to be. "It was important to get used to the centre court," he smiled. "I am happy I got through. "It was okay. But I think I will have to play a little bit better next match."
Next up for the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion is a player who has made centre court his own, three-times former champion Gustavo Kuerten.
The Brazilian stormed into the third round with a 6-2 6-0 6-3 win over Belgian Gilles Elseneer. "It will be a great match for the tournament," Federer said. "If I can get through him that is for me a huge step."
Federer and Kuerten were joined in the third round by another former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-2.
"I feel pretty confident where my game's at at the moment," the 12th-seeded Australian said. "I feel confident maybe overall more, maybe moving a little bit better on clay this year purely because I've spent a little bit more time on it."
Jennifer Capriati muscled her way through in the women's field, out-gunning Czech qualifier Kveta Peschke 7-5 6-3. The American seventh seed, French champion in 2001, wrapped up victory after 73 minutes when Peschke netted a backhand volley having saved two match points.
"I did what I had to do to basically win the match," she said. "Maybe it took me a little while to get going and wake up there a little bit. Capriati is on course for a quarter-final against Serena Williams.