30th-seeded Samantha Stosur upsets No. 4 Dementieva in 3rd round of French Open

Stosur upsets Dementieva at French Open

PARIS — Samantha Stosur knocked fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva out of the French Open on Saturday, beating the Russian 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in the third round.

Dementieva followed No. 3 Venus Williams out of the tournament. The American lost in straight sets on Friday.

Stosur, seeded 30th at this year’s French Open, converted seven of her 15 break points against Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up at Roland Garros.

The Australian has never before reached the fourth round at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament. She reached the same stage at the 2006 Australian Open, but has never made the quarterfinals at a major.

Seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova easily advanced to the fourth round, beating Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.

Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, reached the French Open final in 2006.

Later Saturday, three-time French Open finalist Roger Federer and No. 4 Novak Djokovic were scheduled to play, as were No. 2 Serena Williams and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic. No. 6 Andy Roddick was already on court.

On Friday, Rafael Nadal made two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt his latest victim on clay.

Hewitt has done well against Nadal in the past, but the unseeded Australian is by no means a serious threat on the red clay that Nadal so dominates.

“It’s totally different playing him on clay to hard court and grass,” Hewitt said after losing to the top-seeded Spaniard 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 Friday in the third round. “He’s obviously as good as he’s ever been right at the moment now.”

Djokovic and Andy Murray also advanced Friday at Roland Garros, with Djokovic reaching the third round and Murray moving into the fourth. Top-seeded Dinara Safina made the fourth round in the women’s draw along with defending champion Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova, but Venus Williams was eliminated at this stage for the third straight year.

Hewitt entered center court thinking positive, but it didn’t take long for the four-time defending champion from Spain to set the tone.

“Going into the match, I felt like I was hitting the ball fairly well,” Hewitt said. “You have to get off to a good start against him. He’s such a good player, especially when he’s in front, as well, and he goes for his shots a lot more. Then he’s dictating you the whole time behind the baseline. It gets harder and harder from then.”

Hewitt’s record against Nadal is now 4-5, with four of those losses on clay.

“He’s holding three of the Grand Slams out of the four at the moment,” said Hewitt, who won titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. “He’s obviously the form player on any surface. It’s going to be hard for everyone to beat him, week in and week out.”

Nadal, who won this year’s Australian Open and has a chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win all major titles in one season, was just happy to reach the fourth round.

“Always a win against Lleyton is a very good news,” said Nadal, who stretched his record at Roland Garros to 31-0. “You must be playing well.”

Hewitt is now hoping both to play well and to get a little bit of luck for the next two Grand Slam tournaments.

“The next two majors are two places I’ve played well in the past,” Hewitt said, “So a lot depends on the draw, and hopefully it can open up. On grass, I give myself a good chance.”