Haas scores one for Germany and old guys

Germany's Tommy Hass returns to Russia's Mikhail Youzhny during their fourth-round match of the French Open at Roland Garros on Monday in Paris. Haas won 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, to reach the quarterfinals at the age of 35, the third-oldest in history. Christophe Ena / Associated Press

Mikhail Youzhny of Russia looks at his broken racket after smashing it on a chair until it was mangled following a lost point during his match against Tommy Haas of Germany on Monday. Stephane Mahe / Reuters

Is third oldest overall, first from nation in 17 years to make quarters

Tommy Haas became the third oldest man, and the first German in 17 years, to reach the French Open quarter-finals on Monday when he swept past racquet-smashing Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Haas, 35, is also the oldest man to make a last eight at any Grand Slam since Andre Agassi at the 2005 US Open.

The 12th seed, who made history in the third round when he needed a record 13 match points to beat John Isner, eased past Youzhny, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in just 84 minutes.

"It was a pretty good performance. I was broken in the first game but I got my bearings, got into the groove," said Haas, who is enjoying a renaissance in a career that has been decimated by a series of injuries.

"He gave me a lot of unforced errors, so I just kept doing what I was doing."

Only Pancho Gonzales, who was over 40 when he made the last eight in 1968, and 39-year-old Istvan Gulyas in 1971, have got this far at Haas' age in the tournament.

"The oldest since 1971? I never thought it would be possible to have this success."

Former world No 2 Haas lost on clay in straight sets to Youzhny in Rome last month.

But he was never troubled on Monday, winning 10 games in succession after losing the opener.

Such was Youzhny's frustration that he smashed his racket nine times against his courtside chair, sending splinters spiralling into the air at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The violence of his outburst made him an instant YouTube hit even as the match was still being played.

Haas will be the first German in the last eight in Paris since Michael Stich and Bernd Karbacher in 1996.

He will face top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia for a spot in the semifinals. Djokovic lost the first set but came back to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

The Volatile Youzhny smashed sent splinters spiralling into the air and ball boys running for cover in a stunning meltdown.

Youzhny boiled over after he slipped a set and 3-0 down to Haas.

"You try and do all you can to help yourself. I tried it this way, but it doesn't help really," said 29-year-old Youzhny.

Youzhny is notorious on tour for his hair-trigger temper.

At Miami in 2008, playing Spain's Nicolas Almagro, he smashed his racket on his head so violently that blood poured onto the court.

Last year, as he suffered a 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 thrashing by Spain's David Ferrer at Roland Garros, Youzhny wrote "SORRY!" with his racket on the red clay, in apology to the spectators.

On the women's side, third seed Victoria Azarenka reached the quarterfinals for the third time with a 6-3, 6-0 win over 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone.

The Australian Open champion will face Russian 12th seed Maria Kirilenko, who defeated unseeded Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 7-5, 6-4, for a semifinal place.

"I think it was the most composed and the most consistent match so far," Azarenka said.

"The beginning was back and forth. I feel like I didn't take all of the opportunities, but there was kind of a build-up to later on that I was doing the right thing."

(China Daily 06/04/2013 page24)