By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 2, 1998; Page E1

PARIS, June 1 — Marat Safin's forehand sailed long, Cedric Pioline's arms reached skyward in celebration and Safin spiked his racket into the soft red clay, which sent it spinning in a dizzy rebound. That's how the improbable and captivating run of the 18-year-old Safin reached its conclusion at the French Open this evening, halted by a 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4 fourth-round loss.

Safin, ranked 116th in the world and forced to play three qualifying matches merely to squeeze into the draw, found himself overwhelmed for the first time in nearly two weeks on these famous red clay courts — having defeated Andre Agassi, defending champion Gustavo Kuerten and Daniel Vacek to get here.

Safin fell under attack not just from the Frenchman Pioline, ranked 17th and a finalist at Wimbledon last year, but also from the 14,000 impassioned and partial fans, who seemed to grow more patriotic as the evening wore on. If that wasn't enough, Safin said he was distracted by the presence of both Ronaldo, the world-famous Brazilian soccer player, and the popular Anna Kournikova, a fourth-round loser today who joined Ronaldo in the stands.

"I never saw Ronaldo like this," said Safin, who turned around to stare at Ronaldo and offer a thumbs-up in between games. "He's never been so close to me."

About Kournikova, eliminated by Jana Novotna, Safin said with a smile: "She's so beautiful, it's unbelievable. I want to see her later tonight."

Safin, who more than doubled his 1998 winnings ($38,350) with his round-of-16 reward of 272,000 francs (about $46,101), spent much of the match visibly furious at himself for his mistakes and concentration lapses. Displaying his disgust by throwing his racket more than a half-dozen times, talking to himself, gesturing and moaning, Safin looked very much the immature player that he is. The winner of precisely three men's tour matches before this tournament, Safin seemed distracted by just about everything but, apparently, his opponent. Asked after the match, what most impressed him about Pioline, Safin said: "Nothing. He's a normal player. It's nothing special."

Pioline offered far more praise to Safin, a Moscow native in his first Grand Slam, saying: "He's young, but he looks very good. It was very tough playing against him because he was hitting a lot of winners, playing very close to the line. I broke [his serve four] times — that's not so much in a five-set match on clay.

"The experience was the advantage today. I managed better the tired points than he did."

In other men's fourth-round action, Spain's Alex Corretja defeated Jason Stoltenberg, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; Belgium's Filip Dewulf downed Francisco Clavet, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3; and Moroccan Hicham Arazi defeated Alberto Berasategui, 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Kournikova lost her fourth-round match to Novotna by 6-7 (7-2), 6-3, 6-3. Delayed in the third set Sunday night with Novotna leading 4-2, the match concluded today with Novotna easily finishing off Kournikova, who will turn 17 on Sunday.

In the other fourth-round match postponed because of darkness Sunday night, defending French Open champion Iva Majoli handled Conchita Martinez, winning by 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (7-3), 6-3.

But the best came later, as Pioline and Safin provided not only the match of the day but arguably the match of the tournament so far. It lasted 3 hours 20 minutes. Safin dominated in aces (16 to 5), but lacked Pioline's consistency. The last set provided a breathtaking finish, as Pioline broke Safin's serve in the third game yet did not take control of the set until the last point.

Safin fought back from 0-30 deficits to hold serve in the seventh and ninth games of the last set, then took a 30-15 lead in the final game. Pioline, however, used a powerful overhead and two strong serves to force three mis-hit balls from Safin for victory — and the chance to face Arazi in the quarterfinals, wide open with only one top 10 seed — third-seeded Marcelo Rios — remaining.

"It was a beautiful match to win," Pioline said. "It was not easy at all. I was able to survive."