She looked to have the match against Magui Serna of Spain under control at 5-1 in the first set, but then lost concentration to crash out 7-5, 6-2.

Play was again held up by rain

She left the Suzanne Lenglen show court at Roland Garros white-faced and close to tears: It's not the first time they have booed me off and it probably won't be the last time," she said.

The big-serving 23-year-old, seeded 11 and a finalist in 1994, denied she had lost her concentration.

"She played a great match and made very few errors. She's a tough opponent on clay."

Serna, who lost to Pierce at Wimbledon last year, was sympathetic towards her opponent.

"She was playing great at the start but then she started to make mistakes and as I came back she got nervous," she said.

"Then I started to play very well and the crowd seemed to go crazy against her. It was very difficult for her."

Serna now plays Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, a semi-finalist last year, for a place in the last 16.

Dragomir, currently ranked 23rd, raced past Flora Perfetti of Italy 6-0 6-2.

The fans favourite

16-year-old Anna Kournikova, who has been assigned extra security guards since becoming the prime target of the army of photographers and fans, clinched a 6-2 7-6 (7/2) victory over Katarina Studenikova of Slovakia in 72 minutes.

After a dream start, the 13th-seeded Kournikova came under pressure in a hard-fought second set, but kept her nerves on the important points.

The win kept her on course for a possible fourth-round showdown with American teenage rival Venus Williams.

First, however, she must play Asa Carlsson of Sweden who defeated Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada 6-4 6-0.

Meanwhile the experienced Spanish duo Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez both won without dropping a set.

Enqvist powering through

In the men's tournament, the 1996 champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, seeded sixth, also crashed out, saying that his confidence was not what it should be, after surrendering in four sets to Sweden's Thomas Enqvist.

Kafelnikov lost his way against Enqvist after losing two tie-breaks, going down 4-6 7-6 (12/10) 7-6 (7/4) 6-1.

Enqvist now plays either Filip Dewulf of Belgium, semi-finalist here twelve months ago, or Italian qualifier Marzio Martelli.

Muster is going strongly

But elsewhere the favourites survived another day of rain delays and heavy conditions.

Seeded Spaniards Carlos Moya and Felix Mantilla all powered their way into the third-round without dropping a set.