Safin advances, adds moon shot to his tennis repertoire

PARIS -- Marat Safin celebrated a particularly nifty shot at the French Open by mooning the crowd, which raised the question: What will he do if he wins the tournament?

The mercurial Russian advanced to the third round Friday by winning a two-day marathon against Felix Mantilla, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 11-9. The match was suspended Thursday because of darkness at 7-all in the fifth set and ended 24 minutes after it resumed when Mantilla sailed a backhand long.

Afterward, Safin was still annoyed about being penalized a point for dropping his shorts early in the fifth set Thursday.

"I felt it was a great point for me," the former U.S. Open champion said. "I felt like pulling my pants down. What's bad about it?"

To celebrate a drop shot he hit for a winner, Safin grabbed his shorts, pulled them down to his thighs and leaned over. It appeared he wore underwear that remained in place, partially obscured by his long shirt.

The crowd cheered and laughed.

"Nobody complained," Safin said. "Everybody was OK. It wasn't like really bad."

He hitched up his pants with a smile, but it disappeared when chair umpire Carlos Bernardes Jr. penalized Safin a point. The Russian argued in vain with Bernardes and ITF supervisor Mike Morrissey, then applauded the ruling facetiously before play resumed.

Safin said tennis officials discourage making the sport fun.

"They tried to destroy the match," he said. "All of the people who run the sport, they have no clue. It's a pity that the tennis is really going down the drain. Every year it's getting worse and worse and worse. There has to be a radical change, and I hope it will be really soon."

Grand Slam supervisors decided not to fine Safin for dropping his pants. He was fined $500 for abusing his racket earlier in the match.

In other action, Lindsay Davenport, seeded fifth, reached the fourth round by beating American compatriot Marissa Irvin 6-1, 6-4.

No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo of France beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-2.

Zheng Jie became the first Chinese woman to reach the fourth round in a Grand Slam event by beating Tathiana Garbin 5-7, 7-6 (1), 6-2.