Safin crumbles on the clay in Portugal

Marat Safin, the second seed, suffered a surprise defeat yesterday when he was knocked out of the Estoril Open by Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

The Russian, a former US Open champion, fell 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals in this clay-court tournament.

The third-seeded Carlos Moya was also taken to a deciding set but the Spaniard survived to beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

The former French Open champion, who won the Estoril title two years ago, struggled in the first two sets but found his form in the third, easily overcoming Mirnyi.

Argentina's David Nalbandian, who had earlier knocked out the defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, defeated the fifth seed Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 6-4.

Magnus Norman, struggling to return to the elite after a hip injury which has kept him out for six months, plans to miss this summer's grass-court season, including Wimbledon.

The Swede was a French Open finalist in 2000, the year when he was briefly ranked world No1. But at Wimbledon, he has never gone beyond the third round.

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