PARIS -- Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva was eliminated Saturday in the third round of the French Open with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 defeat by Australian Samantha Stosur.
Serena Williams rallied to escape the same fate, beating Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, but after the match accused Martinez Sanchez of "cheating."
The Olympic champion Dementieva, who benefited from Jelena Dokic's retirement in the previous round while she was one set down, bowed out after 2 hours, 12 minutes.
"I just feel I'm far away from being in good shape. I feel like I couldn't perform any better," Dementieva told a news conference.
"She was playing very solid, very good first serve. Just too many unforced errors and not enough power from me. I did what I could."
The second-seeded Williams seemed to have trouble dealing with her opponent's serve-and-volley tactics, and piled up plenty of unforced errors.
But she managed to avoid the fate of her sister Venus, who lost on Friday. Both lost in the third round last year.
Williams also struggled in the first round, but she easily advanced from the second after losing only two games.
Williams was broken once in the first set, but she complained about the final point, which she believed hit her opponent's arm.
"The ball did touch her 100 percent on her arm," Williams said. "The rules of tennis is when the ball hits your body, then it's out of play. You lose a point automatically. So the ball hit her body, and therefore, she should have lost the point instead of cheating."
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