Safin crashes out at Roland Garros

Marat Safin’s hopes of a maiden French Open title were shattered on Monday as he was knocked out in the fourth round by Tommy Robredo in a five-set thriller.

The third-seeded Russian, the former US Open champion, made the semi-final at Roland Garros in 2002 but was unable to repeat that feat as he tumbled out to Robredo, the Spanish 15th seed winning 7-5 1-6 6-1 4-6 8-6.

Robredo, who reached the quarter-final here in 2003 but has otherwise never gone beyond the fourth round of a Grand Slam event, will now play another Russian, 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko, for a place in the semi-finals.