Another Favorite Bid Adieu Windy Conditions Wreaking Havoc At French Open

It’s probably not a good idea to call anyone a favorite among the men at the French Open. He’ll lose.

First, Pete Sampras and Thomas Muster made early exits. Now, the man many picked to win after those losses, Alex Corretja, is out.

His top-spin game thwarted by a blustery wind on center court, the eighth-seeded Spaniard lost in the fourth round Sunday to a qualifier, 124th-ranked Filip Dewulf of Belgium, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.

“For sure, Sampras was a favorite; he’s out,” Corretja said. “Muster was a favorite, he’s out. I was a favorite, I’m out already. I don’t want to say names because I will give bad luck for sure.”

A lot of players spoke of bad luck Sunday, but they were all referring to the same enemy: the wind.

“The wind just killed my game today,” Corretja said.

“I don’t care about losing, but losing under such conditions is really frustrating,” said 15th seed Marc Rosset, who lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to Magnus Norman of Sweden - the same player who knocked Sampras out of the draw.

There were few complaints from the winners about the wind.

“I’m very happy that the wind was out there, it helped me a lot,” Dewulf said. “He wasn’t really loose when he was hitting his strokes.”

“I think definitely the wind did help me,” said Amanda Coetzer, the 11th seed from South Africa who defeated No. 7 seed Conchita Martinez 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. “She didn’t know what was coming off my racket.”

Besides Coetzer’s minor upset, the top women were proceeding according to form. In a lopsided match, top-seeded Martina Hingis recovered from a shutout in the second set against Austria’s Barbara Paulus to win 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 and advance to the quarterfinals.

No. 2 Steffi Graf also needed three sets to beat Irina Spirlea of Romania, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2. But No. 3 Monica Seles looked stronger than she has all week in winning against Frenchwoman Mary Pierce, 6-4, 7-5.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the sixth-seeded two-time champion, beat Natasha Zvereva 6-4, 6-2.

Defending champ Yegveny Kafelnikov beat hard-serving Australian Mark Philippoussis 6-2, 6-3, 7-5.

American women Lindsay Davenport, Nicole Arendt and Lisa Raymond all lost.