Zabaleta gets shorty

Mariano Zabaleta faces a fine after smashing his racket and pulling down his shorts in the third round of the Hamburg Tennis Masters.

The Argentine baseliner threw his racket several times during his 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 defeat by Belarussian Max Mirnyi and at one stage pulled his shorts halfway down after losing a point.

"I think that was just frustration," said ATP spokesman Nicola Arzani.

Lleyton Hewitt boosted his chances of taking the lead in the ATP Champions Race with a convincing 6-4, 6-3 win over Czech Jiri Novak.

Hewitt, a semi-finalist in Hamburg last year, will now play Marat Safin in the last eight. The Russian won a close match against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6, 7-5.

Spain's Tommy Robredo caused a big upset by beating local hero Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4. Robredo, 20, was more consistent than the German, who made unforced errors on crucial points. Meanwhile, Jennifer Capriati, the number two seed from America, whitewashed France's Mary Pierce 6-0, 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in Rome.

American Capriati, the Australian Open champion, had not gone beyond the second round in this event in her last five attempts but this time reached the last eight of her third successive claycourt event.

Capriati now faces a tough battle against seventh seed Amelie Mauresmo, the runner-up in Rome a year ago, after the French player beat Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-0, 6-2.

Defending champion and sixth seed Jelena Dokic, of Yugoslavia, was knocked out by 20-year-old Anastasia Myskina, of Russia, who won 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 and now faces American Serena Williams.

The fourth seed overcame Czech qualifier Denisa Chladkova 6-1, 6-2 as she seeks her third title of the year.

Stars crack under the strain