Sharapova taught a lesson

Maria Sharapova elevation to full tennis babe status was put on hold as the 16-year-old Russian was given an 80-minute lesson by Emilie Loit, the clever French player, who beat her 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Flushing Meadows.

Sharapova's departure from the US Open was a massive blow to a tournament that is missing the Williams sisters and Anna Kournikova through injury.

Television executives were already planning to put the expected third- round clash between Sharapova and sixth seed Jennifer Capriati in a prime time slot tomorrow. Capriati kept up her part of the deal beating Martina Sucha 6-1, 6-1 and is patently doing her best to try and increase her appeal.

Loit did not need to opt for power and mixed up her game to frustrate Sharapova, who handed victory to her opponent with the 33rd unforced error of the match.

Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, easily accounted for Sylvia Talaja 6-1, 6-2 and said: "I think I am a complete player and I don't have any bad parts to my game and that's good."

Mary Pierce had earlier fought back from 1-5 down in the final set to record a 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 win over 22nd seed Jelena Dokic in a draining two-hour performance on the sun-baked centre court.