Lucie Safarova - Getty Images

The trials and tribulations of Amelie Mauresmo at Roland Garros continue unabated as she crashed out prematurely once again, this time to nemesis Lucie  Safarova 6-3 7-6(3) 7 minutes short of 2 hours.

It was the left-handed Czech who had ended the reign of the Frenchwoman at the Australian Open in the 4^th round, today she broke the hearts of her home supporters in this 3^rd round encounter as they willed their flawed heroine on with cries of "Amelie! Amelie!"

Using her powerful drives off both wings, Safarova fought back from a 0-3 deficit in the opening set with a run of 6 games, forcing Mauresmo on the back foot time and again.

The number 25 seed wrapped up the opening set with a third consecutive break of the Mauresmo serve when the 5^th seeded Frenchwoman went long on her backhand.

Despite getting the early break once again, Mauresmo surrendered her advantage in the second set as Safarova levelled at 3-3 on her 4^th break point with another backhand error from the former world number 1.

With both women holding serve from there, the match was decided on the tiebreaker.

A Mauresmo double fault gave her opponent the first mini break to go up 2-0, however, the young Czech who is not averse to the odd bout of the collywobbles herself also double faulted to hand back the initiative at 2-2. Two points later however, a rasping two handed backhand crosscourt winner put Safarova back in the driving seat at 4-2. When Mauresmo ballooned yet another backhand over the baseline to hand her opponent match points at 3-6, the French crowd who had seen their number 1 player go out to another Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the 4^th round last year, cried out all the more desperately for her to make an unlikely comeback. To collective groans Mauresmo bowed out of this year's championship on the first match point when she netted a routine forehand.

"It was very tough. I was very nervous at the beginning because I knew the crowd was for her", Safarova said. "I just tried to concentrate on each point and support myself."

Safarova was aware that perhaps physically Mauresmo was not at her best.

"I saw that she was taping her leg, so I know that maybe she has some injuries. But at the beginning of the second set she was improving her game, and she was playing much better than in the first set. So I was like, okay, maybe it's not so serious and I have to play more aggressive and still try to win each point."

The Czech player insisted that she was not afraid to go for her shots, believing that it would pay off for her in the end.

"If you are afraid, you cannot win against great players. You have to be aggressive. I think that's why I won."

Mauresmo who has had a problem in her abductors for several weeks and needed medical treatment in the first set,  reflected on blowing the early leads she had in both sets: "I led 3-0 in both sets, but was not really able to take advantage of that and keep the pressure on her the way I should have", she said. "The fact is that there is no miracle today; I've been struggling for weeks now and I didn't know what to expect coming here. So it showed today that when you're not prepared the way you should be, then it makes it very difficult."

Andre Jones
Roland Garros
Paris