Andy Murray shows flashes of brilliance before losing to clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro in round three of the French Open.

ANDY Murray's French Open challenge came to a sudden halt this afternoon when he ran into one of the rising stars of clay court tennis at Roland Garros.

A NEW women's champion will be crowned at Roland Garros this year after No.5 seed Serena Williams crashed out 6-4 6-4 to Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik in the third round.

LLEYTON Hewitt and Chris Guccione have lost their first-round doubles match at the French Open.

TRIPLE defending champion Rafael Nadal survived an injury scare to his blistered right foot and stormed to a 6-1 6-3 6-1 win over Jarkko Nieminen to reach the French Open last 16.

Serena Williams is out of the French Open. The fifth-seeded American shanked overheads, hit wild volleys and squandered seven break points Thursday in a stunning 6-4, 6-4 third-round loss to Katarina Srebotnik.

ANDY MURRAY hopes to tap back into his new well of confidence on clay when he faces Nicolas Almagro in the third round of the French Open later today.

A NEW women's champion will be crowned at Roland Garros this year after fifth seed Serena Williams crashed out 6-4, 6-4 to Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik in the third r

NO.6 seed David Nalbandian from Argentina has crashed out of the French Open with a 3-6 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-2 loss to French wildcard Jeremy Chardy in the second round.

LLEYTON Hewitt has defeated Mardy Fish in the French Open to set up a third-round match against No.5 seed David Ferrer at Roland Garros.

CASEY Dellacqua has defeated Nathalie Dechy in the second round of the French Open, beating the Frenchwoman 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 19 minutes.

SAMANTHA Stosur has exited the French Open, losing in straight sets to Petra Kvitova in the second round.

THREE-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal and the man whose ambitions he has thwarted each time in winning the titles, Roger Federer, win their second-round matches.

ANDY Murray continues his clay court adventure today with one question hanging in the air at Roland Garros: Which Murray will turn up against Nicolas Almagro?

SEVENTH seed James Blake admitted he got his tactics all wrong in his surprise second-round defeat by the Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis at the French Open yesterday.