Second round shock for Safin

Towering Russian number two seed Marat Safin crashed out in the second round at Wimbledon at the hands of diminutive Belgian Olivier Rochus, who won 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.

In a fascinating David against Goliath contest on Centre Court, the Russian, who has a great capacity for self destruction never got into gear against a feisty opponent who refused to be overawed.

The first set was typical Safin, flashes of brilliance amid patches of mediocrity. He double-faulted twice in the first game to give Rochus an early lead and was broken again in the seventh game. But in between he served five glorious aces.

The second set was little better for the listless Russian, who currently leads the ATP Champions Race -- 50 places ahead of Rochus. The 22-year-old was broken in the fifth game on a double fault and that was all the plucky little Belgian needed to capture the set 6-4 and to take a commanding advantage.

Safin finally broke his opponent's serve in the eighth game of the third set, enough to get him back into the match. They level pegged all the way through a thrilling fourth set, but the Belgian was ruthlessly efficient and dismissed Safin 7-1 in the tiebreak.

Pierce scores over Testud

There was another upset as Mary Pierce confirmed her return to form with a businesslike dismissal of eighth seed Sandrine Testud in an all-French second round tie.

The twice former Grand Slam winner, whose current ranking of 74th in the world tells the tale of her struggle with injury over the last year, betrayed no sentiment in her 6-3, 6-4 victory over her 30-year-old friend and compatriot.

With Pierce out of the picture Testud has battled it out with Amelie Mauresmo for the number one spot in French women's tennis.

Mauresmo, seeded ninth, also won a third-round place on Wednesday, beating Italian Rita Grande 6-4, 6-2.

Pierce, a quarter-finalist at this year's French Open, showed no sign of discomfort from her back and ankle injuries mixing mixed delightful drop shots with some devastating hitting from the back of the court.

She moved easily, playing with trademark elegance, to set up a third round meeting with Laura Granville of the United States.

Granville's compatriot Chanda Rubin had earlier swept past 14th seed Iroda Tulyaganova 6-3, 6-1 to become the first player to reach the third round.

Uzbekistan's Tulyaganova failed to make any impact on Rubin's serve and was clearly out of her depth on court two.

Rubin, who underwent knee surgery earlier this year, clearly felt at home on grass after winning the warm-up title at Eastbourne title last weekend.

Tulyaganova, 20, rarely ventured beyond the baseline and was time and again punished by the attacking Rubin who controlled play from the net.

Rubin will now face the winner of the all-Russian clash between Elena Bovina and 21st seed Tatiana Panova.

France was successful in the men's draw, Arnaud Clement beating 26th seed and twice Wimbledon semi-finalist Todd Martin.

On other courts Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Vince Spadea of the United States and American Taylor Dent overcame compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill.