Christchurch was hit Wednesday by the most damaging aftershock since a devastating 7.0 quake, forcing evacuations and cracking a major road tunnel in the New Zealand city.

The 5.0-magnitude aftershock struck at 7:49 am (1949 GMT Tuesday) sending frightened residents rushing into the streets, cutting already fragile power supplies and bringing down loose material from already damaged buildings.

The aftershock, the latest in a series, was a shallow six kilometres deep and much closer to the city centre than Saturday’s quake, which caused billions of dollars of damage, seismologists said.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the intensity of the latest quake reduced many emergency workers to tears.

“It was a devastatingly, vicious sharp blow to the city,” he told NewstalkZB radio.

“This was a terrifying moment. We have just had to evacuate our civil defence headquarters.”

A 1.9-kilometre (1.2-mile) tunnel linking Christchurch to the nearby port of Lyttleton was closed after cracking appeared, the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) said.

“There is some cracking that’s apparent on the surface and there’s apparently some damage to the canopy as well,” NZTA spokesman Andy Knackstedt told national radio.

“We don’t know what the extent of that is. They’re in there right now making an assessment.”

Parker said the force of the latest convulsion meant there would “inevitably” be more damage to already weakened buildings, adding that the ongoing aftershocks were taking their toll on the city’s residents.

“We have got staff in tears, we have got fire engines going through the middle of the city, power is out and a lot of people are very, very churned up by that.”

More than 100 aftershocks have rocked the area since Saturday.

“I’m bloody terrified all over again,” resident Colleen Simpson told the Stuff website after Wednesday’s tremor.

Christchurch City Council spokeswoman Diane Keenan said: “The jolt was absolutely huge. A really big, stiff jolt. And it was vertical, rather than side to side like the first one. If you were in a car the road moved up and down.”

The latest quake came as staff were making their way to work at the few shops and companies in the inner city which have been able to open this week. They were immediately told to leave.

Parker said assessment teams were heading into the quake-scarred city — New Zealand’s second-largest — to check the damage.

“We were restarting to think, maybe, just maybe, we are over the worst of this and now we have had this shocking event,” he said.

Officials estimate up to 100,000 homes were damaged in Saturday’s quake, which caused damage estimated at two billion dollars (1.45 billion US) but killed no one.

Home hopes in the US Open were blown away by Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka on Thursday when he outlasted Sam Querrey in a marathon fourth round tie.

The 7-6 (11/9), 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 defeat means that there will be no US player in the men’s singles quarter-finals for the second year in a row.

Last year was the first time that had happened in the Open era dating back to 1968.

The 20th-seeded Wawrinka joins Roger Federer in the last eight, making it the first time two Swiss players have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open era.

The match lasted four hours 28 minutes.

“It was an amazing match to finish here and to beat him in five sets was crazy. I was just fighting all the time to keep aggressive with my game,” the 25-year-old Wawrinka said after reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

His opponent for a place in the semi-finals will be 12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who defeated Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Wawrinka reached the fourth round by playing some of the best tennis of his life to defeat fourth seed Andy Murray of Britain in four sets, while all the pressure was on Querrey as the last US player left in the tournament.

The Swiss player let slip a golden chance of clamping a stranglehold on the match when he squandered four second set points before Querrey run off six points in a row from 0-3 down in the ensuing tie-break to level the match.

After sharing the third and fourth sets, both players looked leg weary going into the fifth set and another tie-break looked on the cards until Wawrinka gathered his forces for one last push in the 10th game.

He finally finished Querrey off with a chip and charge on his second match point.

The 28-year-old Youzhny, the sole surviving Russian in the men’s draw, grabbed the first break of serve of the match in the 11th game to take the first set against Robredo.

He then had back-to-back breaks in the second to take a commanding two sets to love lead.

Games went with serve in the third set until 5-4 for Robredo when the Spaniard finally bagged a break of serve, Youzhny hitting a forehand wide on break point.

Robredo was looking the stronger going into the fourth set but it was Youzhny that made the breakthrough in the fifth game.

He set up break point with a deft backhand sliced drop shot and then cashed in when his service return clipped the net and dropped stone dead on Robredo’s side.

From 3-2 up, the Russian held serve three times to advance to the last eight.

It is the second time that Youzhny has made it through to the last eight in New York following his run into the semi-finals in 2006 when he beat Rafael Nadal along the way.

“I like the result and actually I like how I played today,” Youzhny said.

“Of course, I have some mistake and I was a little bit lucky in the fourth set.”

Robredo was one of five Spaniards in action in the four games comprising the top half of the draw in the fourth round.

The other four were paired in the first quarter with top seed Rafael Nadal taking on 23rd seed Feliciano Lopez and eighth seed Fernando Verdasco going up against 10th seed David Ferrer.

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland reached the quarter-finals of the US Open on Tuesday with a marathon 7-6 (11/9), 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 win over Sam Querrey of the United States.

Wawrinka will play 12th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a place in the semi-finals.

The defeat means that there will be no US player in the men’s singles quarter-finals for the second year in a row. Last year was the first time that had happened in the Open era dating back to 1968.

Wawrinka joins Roger Federer in the last eight, making it the first time two Swiss players have reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam in the Open era.

The match lasted four hours 28 minutes.

“It was an amazing match to finish here and to beat him in five sets was crazy. I was just fighting all the time to keep aggressive with my game,” the 25-year-old Wawrinka said after reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final.

Wawrinka reached the fourth round by playing some of the best tennis of his life to defeat fourth seed Andy Murray of Britain in four sets, while all the pressure was on Querrey as the last US player left in the tournament.

Serves dominated in the first set which went inexorably towards a tie-break won by 11-9 by Wawrinka after both men had set points.

Wawrinka had his first break points of the match in the fifth game but failed to take them.

Four games later though he finally made the breakthrough at 40-15 up, drawing Querry into the net and passing him with a forehand down the line on break point.

Wawrinka had four points to clamp a stranglehold on the match on his following serve, but failed to take them and paid the price when Querrey converted his first break point.

A second tie-break followed with Querrey running off six points in a row from 0-3 down en route to leveling the set scores.

With the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd finally starting to get behind him, Querrey broke again in the third game of the third set, but three games later Wawrinka was back on level terms with a break of his own.

A third straight tie-break seemed inevitable, but at 6-5 for Wawrinka, Querrey made a mess of three volleys in a row to drop serve and hand the set to his opponent.

Querrey had his back to the wall, but in the seventh game he took advantage of some sloppy play from Wawrinka to break for the second time.

Re-energized, Querrey served out twice to level the set scores once again and he looked the fresher in the deciding set until Wawrinka gathered his forces for one last push in the 10th game finishing Querrey off with a chip and charge on his second match point.

The New Zealand city of Christchurch was Wednesday hit by its most damaging aftershock since the devastating 7.0 quake, causing further damage, residents and officials said.

The 5.1-magnitude aftershock struck at 7:49 am (1949 GMT Tuesday) sending frightened residents rushing into the streets, cutting already fragile power supplies and bringing down loose material from already damaged buildings.

The aftershock, the latest in a series, was a shallow six kilometres deep and much closer to the city centre than Saturday’s quake, which caused billions of dollars of damage, the official geological monitoring service Geonet said.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said the intensity of the latest quake reduced many emergency workers to tears.

“It was a devastatingly, vicious sharp blow to the city,” he told NewstalkZB.

“This was a terrifying moment. We have just had to evacuate our Civil Defence headquarters.

“We have got staff in tears, we have got fire engines going through the middle of the city, power is out and a lot of people are very, very churned up by that.”

“I’m bloody terrified all over again,” resident Colleen Simpson told the Stuff website.

Christchurch City Council spokeswoman Diane Keenan said: “The jolt was absolutely huge. A really big, stiff jolt. And it was vertical, rather than side to side like the first one. If you were in a car the road moved up and down.”

The latest quake came as staff were making their way to work at the few shops and companies in the inner city which have been able to open this week and they were immediately told to leave.

Parker said assessment teams were heading into the city to check the damage.

“We were restarting to think, maybe, just maybe, we are over the worst of this and now we have had this shocking event.”

More than 100 aftershocks have rocked the area since Saturday.

Suspected members of an Islamist sect that launched an uprising last year attacked a prison in northern Nigeria on Tuesday, officials said, sparking a fierce gun battle with authorities.

Authorities in Bauchi said they repelled the attack, which followed a spate of recent shootings blamed on the sect. One resident said an unclear number of people were killed, adding it appeared prisoners escaped.

Officials said the attack was aimed at freeing jailed sect members.

“They shot dead a handful of policemen at the gate and forced their way in,” resident Isa Hassan told AFP by phone, saying he lived across from the prison. “From my house, I could see bodies and injured being loaded into a truck.”

He said the alleged sect members were chanting “Allahu Akbar” — or God is great — when they arrived.

Another resident said military and police were occasionally firing into the air as they locked the area down.

“There was heavy fighting between the attackers and the security forces which lasted for almost an hour. It was quite terrifying,” resident Usman Ahmad told AFP by phone.

Residents took cover to avoid being caught in the crossfire and to keep from being mistaken for one of the sect members, he said.

“The army and police personnel have been deployed in large numbers and have taken control of the area around the prison,” Ahmad said.

“But for sporadic shooting in the air by the army and the police, it’s calm. Fighting has stopped.”

Bauchi state police commissioner Danlami Yar’Adua and an adviser to the state governor confirmed the attack, with both saying the situation had been brought under control.

Neither said whether anyone was killed or if prisoners had escaped. It was also unclear how many alleged sect members were involved.

“The Bauchi central prison was attacked this evening by people believed to be members of Boko Haram in an attempt to free their comrades,” Bauchi state police commissioner Danlami Yar’Adua said, referring to the name of the sect.

“They arrived at the prison and began shooting sporadically to gain access, but we deployed our anti-riot policemen, who engaged them and contained the situation.”

Police have been among the victims of the recent deadly shootings in northern Nigeria blamed on members of the sect. At least nine people have been killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen.

Last year’s uprising by Boko Haram, also known as the Nigerian Taliban, began with attacks on police posts.

It was crushed by a police and military assault, with hundreds eventually killed and the sect’s headquarters and mosque left in ruins.

Its leader, Mohammed Yusuf, was captured alive and then killed on July 30 last year by police, who said he was trying to escape.

Police also insist that Yusuf’s deputy, Abubakar Shekau, was killed last year, though he recently appeared on video issuing new threats. Police say the clips are digital mock-ups.

At the time of the one-year anniversary of the uprising in July, authorities in Maiduguri, where the sect was based, insisted there was no threat of attacks, but security was tightened and intelligence agents blanketed the city.

The recent shootings had signaled the sect may be preparing to strike again in Africa’s most populous nation.

Most of the shootings occurred in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where authorities earlier Tuesday banned the use of motorcycles at night in a bid to stop the violence.

Tuesday’s attack comes just before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and ahead of January presidential elections.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is sin” in local Hausa dialect, had fought for the creation of an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 150 million population is divided roughly in half between Christians and Muslims.

Nigeria’s north is mainly Muslim, while the south is predominately Christian.

The vast majority of Muslims in the country reject the sect’s hardline ideology, and many observers say the group grew out of frustration with Nigeria’s widespread corruption, poverty and lack of opportunities for youths.

France got their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track and quickly turned the page on their shock defeat by Belarus with a superb 2-0 win over Bosnia-Hercegovina here on Tuesday.

Karim Benzema, returning to the side after injury, opened the scoring in the 72nd minute when he controlled Gael Clichy’s left-wing cross, span away from a defender and fired left-footed past Kenan Hasagic.

The visitors doubled their lead six minutes later with a delightfully executed goal; Florent Malouda tapping into an empty net after a one-touch move involving Benzema, Abou Diaby and Mathieu Valbuena.

“Our use of the ball was very good and, contrary to what happened on Friday (against Belarus), we got forward quickly,” said France coach Laurent Blanc, who had tasted defeat in his first two matches in charge.

“The fact we played deeper allowed us to create space and we have players up front, like Karim, who like space. We produced a marvellous result tonight.”

The three points were rich reward for a performance full of brio and endeavour from France, who had been booed off by their own fans after losing 1-0 to Belarus in Paris.

By contrast, Bosnia had begun their qualifying campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Luxembourg, but they appeared surprised by the assured nature of France’s play and threatened only fitfully.

Miralem Pjanic went closest, but his long-range free-kick was pushed away by his Lyon team-mate Hugo Lloris in the France goal.

France’s quick-fire goals provoked the wrath of the home fans and captain Emir Spahic, who had been left for dead by Benzema’s pirouette prior to the opening goal, had to appeal for calm after flares were thrown onto the pitch.

Les Bleus could have won even more handsomely, but the inventive Valbuena saw a low drive parried by Hasagic and Benzema also drew a sharp save from the home goalkeeper with a close-range volley.

“I’m not surprised. France are a great team and I can’t see them not finishing in the top two (in the group),” said Bosnia coach Safet Susic.

“It’s a big disappointment. We respected France a bit too much. We were too timid.”

The trip to Sarajevo was supposed to be France’s most taxing Group D assignment but the smiles on the players’ faces at the final whistle suggested it could be the game that finally put the World Cup fiasco to bed.

Blanc had beefed up the French starting XI by aligning Diaby, Yann M’Vila and skipper for the night Alou Diarra in a muscular midfield, with Benzema operating as a lone forward in a 4-3-3 formation.

The solid midfield base laid the foundations for an aggressive pressing game that allowed France to stamp their authority on the game from the start.

Malouda dovetailed intelligently with Benzema, who struck the outside of the post from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, while Diaby helped establish France’s dominance with a superb display full of elegant touches.

Benzema twice tested Hasagic and curled a free-kick just over the bar in the first half, while M’Vila sent a dipping volley onto the roof of the net and Diaby over-ran the ball when through on goal after a neat one-two with Malouda.

Diaby saw a header flash wide after the interval, before Benzema showed his class with a strike that visibly appeared to lift a burden from his team-mates’ shoulders.

Blanc punched the air with delight as Malouda tapped home the second and his side will now look forward to the visit of Romania on October 9 with renewed confidence.

UN troops failed the women and child victims of mass rapes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last month that are still going on, a top UN peacekeeping official said Tuesday.

Atul Khare, under secretary general for peacekeeping operations, warned of a growing “culture of sexual violence” in the stricken region where rival groups are fighting for control of gold and mineral wealth.

Security Council members have expressed outrage over the mass rapes of at least 242 women and children in 13 villages, and criticized the failure of the UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, to prevent the attacks.

The UN official said the DR Congo government is primarily responsible for security, but added: “Clearly we have also failed. Our actions were not adequate, resulting in the unacceptable brutalization of the villages of the area. We must do better.”

And Khare concluded: “I feel personally guilty to the people who have suffered this brutalization.”

Khare said scores more rapes have since been reported since the first attacks in other parts of Nord and Sud Kivu provinces, some on girls and boys as young as seven.

Margaret Wallstrom, the UN special representative on the prevention of sexual violence in conflict, read out one witness account of the attacks on Luvingi, the worst hit village where 103 women and children were raped.

“She recounted how armed men went from house to house breaking down the doors, and how people were prevented from escaping because the village was surrounded.

“She described how armed men inserted their hands into women’s genitals searching for gold. Many women were gang raped by up to five or six men at a time.”

Wallstrom said that DR Congo is “being held hostage to perception that it is now the ‘rape capital’ of the world.” She has already said that the heads of militias and armed groups in the African nation could face war crimes charges over the attacks.

Khare said that between July 30 and August 2, 242 women and children were raped in the first attacks.

He blamed the Mai-Mai Cheka group and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and said leaders from the two groups, named as Colonel Mayele and Colonel Serafim, told inhabitants of Luvingi that they wanted to protect the village.

Khare said villagers who fled may have been “trapped” into returning because of the militia leaders’ comments.

A MONUSCO daily report on July 30 mentioned one rape, but only on August 5 did first reports that 15 women had sought treatment reach the UN force. The toll gradually rose, but the Security Council was only informed of the gravity of the attacks some three weeks later.

The UN peacekeeping official said accounts of scores more rapes had surfaced in recent weeks — at least 40 in the Nord Kivu village of Mubi, 13 rapes in the market at Pinga and 74 cases of sexual violence in the Sud Kivu village of Miki, and 130 in 10 villages in the Shabunda region.

Khare said the international community had to control trafficking in natural resources “which is clearly driving the violence in the region.”

“The long term solution to eradicating the entrenchment of a culture of sexual violence in the DRC lies in building the capacity of the country’s security and rule of law institutions.”

Khare said militia leaders should face targeted sanctions. But the DR Congo’s UN ambassador, Ileka Atoka, told the Security Council that sanctions would not “ease the horror that the Congolese people have already been living for more than a decade, a horror which has become part of our daily life.”

Lithuania and Argentina grabbed the final two quarter-final spots at the world basketball championships here on Tuesday, defeating China and Brazil respectively.

As expected Lithuania got up over China 78-67, while in a game too close to call Argentina were pushed hard for their 93-89 victory over Brazil.

Lithuania had to overcome another slow start, finding themselves 11 points in arrears with the first quarter barely halfway through.

But as they did against Spain and France, Lithuania powered their way back into the game, mainly through the work of Linas Kleiza who led his team at both ends of the court, pulling down 11 defensive rebounds to go with his game-high 30 points.

Within the opening minutes of the second quarter Lithuania took the lead which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the evening, winning 78-67

Wei Lu top-scored for China with 21 points. Washington Wizards’ Jianlian Yi overcame injury to play for China, taking 12 rebounds and scoring 11 points.

Chinese coach Bob Donewald Jr. remarked following the game that Kleiza was the key difference between the two teams and that if it were not for him, China could have won.

Slow starts have become something of a common theme for coach Kestutis Kemura’s Lithuanian side here in Turkey. Kemura admits that he is at loss of how to explain it or find a solution to it.

“I know we start slow but I ask myself why? It is becoming a tradition and it worries me, it’s a bad tradition. But the good thing about this tradition is that we are winning at the end. But I do not want this habit to stay.”

Team member Martynas Pocious acknowledges that it is an issue that needs to be addressed before they take on Argentina on Thursday.

Referring to the slow starts Pocious commented that: “Hopefully we can do something about that before the next game so we are not in a position when we are down 10-20 points and having to fight back.”

The round of 16 finished on Tuesday as it had begun on Saturday with another traditional encounter, this time between South American rivals Brazil and Argentina.

The last two days have given fans a number of one-sided games but early indications suggested that was to change as the teams finished the first quarter with scores fittingly tied at 25.

Throughout the second quarter it became no clearer who would prevail at the end of the game with a six point advantage gained by Argentina disappearing just as quickly as it had been gained with Marcelo Huertas of Brazil scoring the six final points of the quarter to hand his side back the lead at half-time 48-46.

The second half would mirror the first as the lead continued to change hands on multiple occasions as neither team refused to give an inch.

The crucial moment came midway through the final quarter when the Argentine lead again snuck out to four points. Brazil more than once cut the lead back to two but with possession in Argentina’s favour, they were able to take control of the game to eventually prevail 93-89.

Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets completed the game as the matches’ top-scorer and rebounder, claiming 35 points and nine rebounds.

Huertas was the best of the Brazilians with 32.

One of the key elements to Lithuanian victory will be shutting down Scola, the tournaments leading scorer. Scola himself recognises this, stressing his desire for other players on his team to score big: “We (have) a lot of guys who can score 20 points. I will be happy if I do not score one night and one of the other guy goes for 20 to 25 points.”

Germany striker Miroslav Klose took his tally to 55 international goals with a double in the 6-1 rout of Azerbaijan to fire his side to the top of their Euro 2012 qualification group.

Before the game, Klose received a special presentation for winning his 100th cap during the World Cup and he capped his 103rd appearance with two goals to leave him as joint second Germany goal-scorer of all time.

His goals in injury time at the end of both halves takes him alongside Joachim Streich, but 12 behind Germany’s all-time record scorer Gerd Mueller.

Klose urged Germany’s young stars like Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller to raise their game after low-key performances on the back of their break-through at the World Cup.

“There was room for improvement, our conditioning let us down,” said perfectionist Klose.

“We kept our shape tactically, but we have many young players and they need to make the next step up now and reach the next level.”

After Germany opened their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win over Belgium in Brussels last Friday, the win gives Joachim Loew’s side six points from their first two games.

Cologne striker Lukas Podolski answered his critics in front of his home crowd as he scored a well-timed goal and then set up Klose at the end of the first-half.

After Heiko Westermann grabbed the first, Podolski and Klose struck before Azerbaijan captain Rashad Sadygov scored an own goal and with time almost up, defender Holger Badstuber scored his first goal, before Klose’s late second.

Azerbaijan coach Bertie Vogts said the result was acceptable.

“The result is ok, but we gave away some stupid late goals,” said the former German national coach.

“But Germany play at a different level to us.”

Germany are top of Group A, but Turkey also have a 100 percent record after two games as they beat Belgium 3-2 earlier in Istanbul with Germany set to face Turkey in Berlin on October 8.

The game got off to a bruising start when Germany centre-back Per Mertesacker took an elbow in the face, leaving him with a bloody face, and he was replaced by Westermann after ten minutes.

With Germany attacking in waves it was only a matter of time before the home side got the break through they were pushing for and it came on 28 minutes when Westermann tapped in.

Azerbaijan striker Vugar Nadyrov tested Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer on 36 minutes with a long-range shot, but as the visitors started tiring Germany extended their lead with two goals in added time at the end of the first-half.

Podolski scored after taking a return pass from Real Madrid’s Mesut Ozil and driving his shot past goalkeeper Kamran Agayev on 46 minutes.

And Podolski turned goal provider when he took a pass from centre-back Badstuber and squared the ball for Klose to tap the ball home past Nadyrov to make it 3-0 at the break.

Things got worse for Azerbaijan when Sadygov turned the ball into his own net on 53 minutes, but the visitors pulled a goal back when Neuer made a rare mistake.

Striker Vagif Dzavadov curled in a corner and Neuer allowed the ball to bounce off his chest into the back of the net on 57 minutes.

Badstuber took advantage of some sloppy defending to score after 86 minutes before some deft footwork from replacement Cacau allowed Klose a simple tap-in from close range to seal the win.

France got their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign back on track and quickly turned the page on their shock defeat by Belarus with a superb 2-0 win over Bosnia-Hercegovina here on Tuesday.

Karim Benzema, returning to the side after injury, opened the scoring in the 72nd minute when he controlled Gael Clichy’s left-wing cross, span away from a defender and fired left-footed past Kenan Hasagic.

The visitors doubled their lead six minutes later with a delightfully executed goal; Florent Malouda tapping into an empty net after a one-touch move involving Benzema, Abou Diaby and Mathieu Valbuena.

“Our use of the ball was very good and, contrary to what happened on Friday (against Belarus), we got forward quickly,” said France coach Laurent Blanc, who had tasted defeat in his first two matches in charge.

“The fact we played deeper allowed us to create space and we have players up front, like Karim, who like space. We produced a marvellous result tonight.”

The three points were rich reward for a performance full of brio and endeavour from France, who had been booed off by their own fans after losing 1-0 to Belarus in Paris.

By contrast, Bosnia had begun their qualifying campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Luxembourg, but they appeared surprised by the assured nature of France’s play and threatened only fitfully.

Miralem Pjanic went closest, but his long-range free-kick was pushed away by his Lyon team-mate Hugo Lloris in the France goal.

France’s quick-fire goals provoked the wrath of the home fans and captain Emir Spahic, who had been left for dead by Benzema’s pirouette prior to the opening goal, had to appeal for calm after flares were thrown onto the pitch.

Les Bleus could have won even more handsomely, but the inventive Valbuena saw a low drive parried by Hasagic and Benzema also drew a sharp save from the home goalkeeper with a close-range volley.

The trip to Sarajevo was supposed to be France’s most taxing Group D assignment but the smiles on the players’ faces at the final whistle suggested it could be the game that finally put the World Cup fiasco to bed.

Blanc had beefed up the French starting line-up by aligning Diaby, Yann M’Vila and skipper for the night Alou Diarra in a muscular midfield, with Benzema operating as a lone forward in a 4-3-3 formation.

The solid midfield base laid the foundations for an aggressive pressing game that allowed France to stamp their authority on the game from the start.

Malouda dovetailed intelligently with Benzema, who struck the outside of the post from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, while Diaby helped establish France’s dominance with a superb performance full of elegant touches.

Benzema twice tested Hasagic and curled a free-kick just over the bar in the first half, while M’Vila sent a dipping volley onto the roof of the net and Diaby over-ran the ball when through on goal after a neat one-two with Malouda.

Diaby saw a header flash wide after the interval, before Benzema showed his class with a strike that visibly appeared to lift a burden from his team-mates’ shoulders.

Blanc punched the air with delight as Malouda tapped home the second and his side will now look forward to the visit of Romania on October 9 with fresh confidence.