Federer crashes out in Paris

World number one Roger Federer was knocked out of the French Open after a straight-sets defeat by three-times champion Gustavo Kuerten.

The number one seed from Switzerland is the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, but he was totally outplayed by Brazilian Kuerten, a master of the Parisian clay, who triumphed 6-4 6-4 6-4.

A single break in each set was enough for Kuerten to maintain Federer’s miserable recent record at Roland Garros.

He lost in the first round in 2002 and 2003, and has been eliminated early on once again this year.

The other reigning Wimbledon champion, Serena Williams, was greeted with jeers and whistles but then eased into the fourth round with a 6-0 6-4 victory over Croatia’s Silvija Talaja.

Williams needed a convincing performance following her three-set scare against 17-year-old Russian Maria Kirilenko in the second round but it was never that, even against an opponent in Talaja who appeared totally overwhelmed by her first meeting with arguably the best women’s player on the planet.

Jennifer Capriati survived a scare before battling past Russian Elena Bovina in three sets to reach the last 16. The seventh-seeded American, champion in 2001, began in superb fashion but was pegged back and needed all her experience and skill to finally triumph 6-2 3-6 6-4.

Anastasia Myskina also moved into the last 16 after the number six seed defeated Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 6-3 7-6 (7-3).