TENNIS FRENCH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS:SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA'S defence of her French Open title ended last night after she was dumped out of Roland Garros in round three by Maria Kirilenko.

Sixth seed Kuznetsova was lucky to even be in the third round after Andrea Petkovic squandered a 40-0 lead serving for victory against her on Wednesday.

And she almost repeated the trick when she repelled two match points from her Russian opponent.

But Kirilenko made no mistake with her third to wrap up a 6-3 2-6 6-4 victory on Court One.

Kuznetsova was philosophical about surrendering her crown, admitting she had not played well for some time. “It was very hard to defend,” she said. “I have to move on, I have to grow and to improve. I didn’t come here with my best game but I gave my all. You cannot play great all the time, it’s ups and downs.”

Kuznetsova’s defeat to the 30th seed came close to being overshadowed by an extraordinary match on Philippe Chatrier Court, which saw French golden girl Aravane Rezai squander and save three match points against Nadia Petrova before tournament officials finally suspended play for the evening with the pair locked at 7-7 in the decider.

Today will witness the match of the tournament so far when Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova meet for the first time since the former came out of retirement.

The pair last squared off in a highly-charged Australian Open quarter-final in 2008, a clash that proved Henin’s last grand slam appearance before her recent comeback. Sharapova crushed her rival 6-4 6-0 in a match which saw Sharapova’s father Yuri make a throat-cutting gesture, prompting an official complaint from Henin.

The four-time French Open champion, who has not lost at Roland Garros since 2004, said: “There’s no special tension in the light of what happened that day. It was not the best day of my career, but I’ve had so many beautiful days against her. I’d like to think about those and remember those.”

Sharapova remembers the match like it was yesterday. “Actually feels like we never left,” said the 12th seed, who converted a one-set overnight lead into 6-3 6-3 success over Kirsten Flipkens in round two yesterday. “That’s so funny. It was a couple of years ago and here we are. We’re back. It’s a different slam but it’s the same drill.”

Henin (22) also resumed a suspended second-round match yesterday, polishing off Klara Zakopalova 6-3 6-3.

Top seed Serena Williams gave herself plenty of recovery time for her third-round clash with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova by racing through her postponed clash with Julia Goerges, winning 6-1 6-1 in just 55 minutes.

Sister Venus became the first woman through to round four – where she will play the winner of Rezai v Petrova – after easing past 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-4. She was joined later by Francesca Schiavone (17), who beat Na Li and will now play Kirilenko.

Caroline Wozniacki (3) and Flavia Pennetta (14) set up a last-16 clash after beating Alexandra Dulgheru (31) and Na Li (11), respectively.

Elena Dementieva (5) will take on Chanelle Scheepers after respective wins over Aleksandra Wozniak and Akgul Amanmuradova.

Like Henin and Sharapova, Marion Bartoli (13) finished off her second-round match against Olivia Sanchez with a 7-5 6-2 win.

In the last-64 clashes which started yesterday, seventh seed Samantha Stosur beat Rossana De Los Rios, Daniela Hantuchova (23) got past Olga Govortsova and Yanina Wickmayer (16) ousted Sybille Bammer. But 25th seed Jie Zheng was dumped out 6-4 6-3 by Anastasia Pivovarova.

Pavlyuchenkova beat Katie O’Brien’s conqueror Jill Craybas 6-4 6-1.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray rumbled on in to the final 16 of the men’s event where he meets the Czech Tomas Berdych tomorrow, and dismissed the loss of a set to love on the way to an otherwise impressive win over Marcos Baghdatis yesterday as an aberration.

He won only 10 points in the 23 minutes the third set whitewash lasted in searing heat but the fourth seed regained his composure to beat Baghdatis 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 in two hours 23 minutes.

Berdych had a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win in 93 minutes over the big-serving American John Isner.

Roland Garros Results

WOMEN’S SINGLES: Second round: (1) S Williams (USA) bt J Goerges (Ger) 6-1 6-1, (29) A Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt J Craybas (USA) 6-4 6-1, A Pivovarova (Rus) bt (25) J Zheng (Chn) 6-4 6-3, (13) M Bartoli (Fra) bt O Sanchez (Fra) 7-5 6-2, (22) J Henin (Bel) bt K Zakopalova (Cze) 6-3 6-3, (12) M Sharapova (Rus) bt Ki Flipkens (Bel) 6-3 6-3, (23) D Hantuchova (Svk) bt O Govortsova (Blr) 7-5 6-3, (16) Y Wickmayer (Bel) bt S Bammer (Aut) 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 7-5, (7) S Stosur (Aus) bt R De Los Rios (Par) 4-6 6-1 6-0. Third round: (2) V Williams (USA) bt (26) D Cibulkova (Svk) 6-3 6-4, (3) C Wozniacki (Den) bt (31) A Dulgheru (Rom) 6-3 6-4, (14) F Pennetta (Ita) bt P Hercog (Slo) 6-3 6-0, C Scheepers (Rsa) bt A Amanmuradova (Uzb) 6-3 6-3, (17) F Schiavone (Ita) bt (11) N Li (Chn) 6-4 6-2, (5) E Dementieva (Rus) bt A Wozniak (Can) 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-4, (30) M Kirilenko (Rus) bt (6) S Kuznetsova 6-3 2-6 6-4.

MEN’S SINGLES: Second round: (9) D Ferrer (Spn) bt X Malisse (Bel) 6-2 6-2 2-0 ret, (31) V Hanescu (Rom) bt Y Schukin (Kaz) 6-3 6-4 6-2, (2) Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt Horacio Zeballos (Arg) 6-2 6-2 6-3, O Dolgopolov Jr (Ukr) bt (12) F Gonzalez (Chi) 6-3 6-4 6-3, (19) N Almagro (Spn) bt S Darcis (Bel) 6-3 6-0 7-5, (3) N Djokovic (Ser) bt K Nishikori (Jpn) 6-1 6-4 6-4, (22) J Melzer (Aut) bt N Mahut (Fra) 6-1 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4, (28) L Hewitt (Aus) bt D Istomin (Uzb) 1-6 6-3 6-4 2-6 6-2, (24) T Bellucci (Bra) bt P Andujar (Spa) 1-6 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-2, (30) P Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt A Seppi (Ita) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5, R Ginepri (USA) bt P Starace (Ita) 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-3, (7) F Verdasco (Spn) bt F Serra (Fra) 6-2 6-2 0-6 6-4, (16) JC Ferrero (Spn) bt P Riba (Spn) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (13-15) 6-2 6-2, (14) I Ljubicic (Cro) bt M Fish (USA) 6-2 6-7 (8-10) 4-6 6-2 10-8. Third Round: (1) R Federer (Swi) bt J Reister (Ger) 6-4 6-0 6-4, (4) A Murray (Brit) bt (25) M Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-2 6-3 0-6 6-2, (20) S Wawrinka (Swi) bt F Fognini (Ita) 6-3 6-4 6-1, (15) T Berdych (Cze) bt (17) J Isner (USA) 6-2 6-2 6-1, (8) JWTsonga (Fra) bt T De Bakker (Ned) 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-4, (5) R Soderling (Swe) bt (29) A Montanes (Spn) 6-4 7-5 2-6 6-3, (10) M Cilic (Cro) bt L Mayer (Arg) 6-4 3-6 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4.