Rios finds form of old to earn shot at Corretja

Even though Gustavo Kuerten, the Brazilian icon, is currently out of the picture, convalescing after a hip operation, Latin Americans are making their presence felt at the Nasdaq-100 Open here.

The charge is led by Marcelo Rios, of Chile, who became his country's first world No 1 on an unforgettable Sunday afternoon here in 1998, when he defeated Andre Agassi in the final. Rios underlined his determination to raise himself to his current position of No 33 in the ATP tournament entry system by eliminating Yevgeny Kafelnikov, of Russia, the third seed, 6-4, 7-6, on Sunday night to advance to the last 16. Rios next plays the ever-popular Alex Corretja, of Spain, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Luis Horna, a Peruvian qualifier, came close to producing the upset of the tournament so far in the biggest match of his life yesterday. Competing in his first Master Series event, Horna found himself across the net from Marat Safin, the sixth seed, on a day when the Russian appeared in the mood to loan his racket to his alter-ego, Marat Sublime-Ridiculous.

Frustrated by overhitting and other elementary errors that rushed rather than crept into his play, and irritated by his opponent's supporters in the top tier of the stadium, Safin came within one misdemeanour of being penalised a game. That would have been his biggest mistake. The Russian's bad vibes – he broke a racket at the end of the first set and belted a ball in anger midway through the third set – had already contributed to the 136-ranked Horna's confidence.

The 21-year-old from Lima, who almost retired from the sport last year, broke as Safin served for the match at 6-5, and led 2-0 in a final-set tie-break, only to double-fault to 3-5 as the Russian recovered his composure and clinched the shoot-out, 7-3, to win, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, after two hours and 17 minutes.

Argentina is guaranteed a quarter-finalist: the winner of a fourth-round contest between Gaston Gaudio and Juan Ignacio Chela. And Nicolas Lapentti, of Ecuador, hopes to add his name to the last eight by beating Adrian Voinea, of Romania. That may be difficult considering the experienced Voinea eliminated Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, the No 2 seed, 7-6, 1-6, 6-2, in the third round. Admittedly, Ferrero's flowing style was hampered by shin problems.

Perhaps the most tasty fourth-round contest in the lower half of the draw is the match between Agassi, the defending champion, and Sweden's Thomas Johansson, the Australian Open champion and leader of the ATP Champions' Race.

Kim Clijsters' sore right arm, which put her out of the game for six weeks prior to the Indian Wells tournament, is on the mend. Cara Black, of Zimbabwe, is of that opinion, anyway, having been punished by the Belgian fourth seed yesterday. Clijsters became the first player to advance to the quarter-finals, defeating Black, 6-4, 6-2. Black eliminated Daniela Hantuchova, the Indian Wells champion, in the second round.

Anastasia Myskina, while not going so far as to kick herself after failing to defeat Jennifer Capriati, the world No 1, to reach the last 16, certainly lamented her lack of a potent serve to match her powerful groundstrokes. The 20-year-old Russian, serving for the match at 6-3, 5-4, slumped to 0-40. Capriati lured her into netting a forehand on the third break point and went on to win, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, despite hitting 10 double-faults.