Over on the Suzanne Lenglen court, Argentine third seed Guillermo Coria was leading former champion Carlos Moya, the fifth seed from Spain, 3-1 15-0 in the first set.

Earlier, Serena and Venus Williams were knocked out of the quarters in the space of half an hour but both girls warned their rivals they would back firing on all cylinders at Wimbledon.

Second seed Serena, the 2002 champion here, went down 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to compatriot, and 2001 winner, Jennifer Capriati.

Fourth seed Venus was also heading for the airport after falling in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to Russian sixth seed Anastasia Myskina.

"We are both very competitive more than anything and we will not accept performing below a level of what we expect from ourselves," said Venus, who won the last of her four Grand Slam titles at the US Open in 2001.

Fourteenth seed Paola Suarez struck another blow for Argentine tennis when she swept aside the feeble challenge of Russian teenager Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semis for the first time.