Hingis, Henin and Myskina easily advance BUT Petrova is out! :o

Not only is she out - she was whipped! Morigami beat her 6-2 6-2, what a disappointment, I guess we're seeing the difference between Slams and tier events...

Or maybe just a bad day for her? well I di dnto see but from what i have seen of her, when she was playing THE best she could, it wasn;t quite good enough. Unless she improves she will never win a slam.

Yeah but even on a bad day, her basics are enough to win her more than 4 games against a player like Morigami, anyway, maybe she'll win it next year with a little less pressure...

Oh yes, should definitley beat Morigami even when she is not at her best. She could win a slam if she had some luck, as in big seeds going in her draw half. But I just dont; see her doing it yet anyway.

Wasnt Petrova still suffering from that pectoral injury? I have a feeling it wasnt just ' one of those days '. I hear Morigami played pretty well though. Deep flat two-handed groundstrokes that forced petrova deep behind the baseline. After all morigami did hit more winners than Nadia so she should be credited for that, despite Nadia's flat performance.

Myskina had a great day. I was really pleased with the scoreline against the big-hitting, but erratic Indian, especially after her dissapointing defeat to Peer in Istanbul. I can see her troubling some big names in the latter stages if she's producing enough venom with that backhand.

Martina was pretty comfortable as well, under the hour! :D

Justine really did look impressive today against Ani, really was hitting the ball with such clarity and depth and showed some great net-skills as well. She's definitely the fav for RG in my book, especially with Petrova out.

I think she was injured dl, from what I heard since. I agree abotu Henin beign the fave, provided she stays healthy. I think Mauresmo is a possibility, but we shall have to see how she fares and if the stress gets to her. I dont; see it being Kim or Maria and I wonder about Kuzzy being a contender but nto seen her play yet.

Venus and Hingis are the interesting two though for me who can cause an upset.

I think mauresmo could do very well. She has a perfect game for clay really. She's a great athlete and she has a great net-game that gives her an advantage over the majority of women in the field, but will her suspect mentality hold up in such pressure situations. Not sure yet, but she's the Aussie oPen champion and will back herself to do well here.

kim just doesnt look like a potential French champion at the moment. Too many errors that will be exposed against the top players and was nearly undone yesterday against the world number 66 in Razzano, so difficult i think for Clijsters to lift the trophy here. maria looked all over the place as well against Washington and is not really a genuine french contender when fit really. I can see her bowing out to the super Safina in the round of 16.

Venus and Hingis's attitudes are impressing me at the moment. They're taking it one match at a time and just enjoying playing themselves into form, which if they do will be real contenders here, particulary venus with the weapons she has.

:D Beat me to it.

Petrova was injured yes and it was fairly obvious in the way that she was playing. Did any of you watch the match so you can back me up? She wasn't moving that well though still reasonably.

Nadia often uses injury as an excuse

Hi all, back from Eastbourne :D

I'm quite shocked at Nadia's defeat, but it seems that she was indeed struggling with injury...real shame for her.

Good to see the other top names moving through comfortably :)

Day 4

Amelie is through, 6-1 7-6(5) against Dushevina. Very shaky performance, around 50 unforced errors, and against most other opponents she would have lost. But Vera made about 50 UEs herself, and failed to serve out the second set on two occasions. Amelie's backhand was very erratic, it's something to watch in her next match...