Historic low for American men

IT was a day to forget for the United States at the French Open yesterday, with their nine-strong contingent of men’s singles players making history for the wrong reasons.

Robby Ginepri’s first-round defeat to Argentina’s Diego Hartfield meant the US failed to provide a single player in the men’s second-round draw at Roland Garros for the first time since the beginning of the Open era in 1968.

They had came into the tournament boasting two top-10 players — third-seed Andy Roddick and eighth-seed James Blake — but they both perished yesterday at the hands Igor Andreev and Ivo Karlovic, respectively.

Amer Delic, Justin Gimelstob, Robert Kendrick, Vincent Spadea, Michael Russell and Sam Querrey had all gone the same way in the opening three days, so it was left to Ginepri to spare his country’s embarrassment.

He failed to do so, losing 6-4 1-6 5-7 6-4 6-2.

Meanwhile, home favourite Richard Gasquet was one of the big casualties on day four at Roland Garros, after his shock straight-sets defeat to unseeded Kristof Vliegen.

The 11th seed failed to find any kind of rhythm in his second-round clash and was brushed aside 7-6 6-3 6-1 by his Belgian opponent.

Vliegen, ranked 74th in the world, will now face 19th-seed Guillermo Canas after the Argentinian’s straight-sets victory over Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

Marat Safin’s French Open campaign was also ended at the second-round stage with a comprehensive 6-4 6-4 7-5 defeat at the hands of Janko Tipsarevic on Suzanne Lenglen court.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko swept into the third round with a straight-sets victory over Austrian Werner Eschauer.

The Russian world number four, a dark horse for the title, narrowly won the first set 7-5, but out-powered his opponent in the remaining sets 6-3 6-1.

Davydenko will next face Frenchman Michael Llodra, who defeated number 32 seed Nicolas Almagro in five sets.

Ninth-seed Tommy Robredo also booked his place in the third round with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 victory over Konstantinos Economidis, the Spaniard setting up a mouth-watering tie with Tipsarevic.

In the women’s event, Maria Sharapova revealed she was playing through injury in an attempt to conquer the biggest challenge of her career — winning the French Open title.

The 20-year-old Russian has been out of action for two months because of severe tendinitis in her shoulder, but was determined to make it to Roland Garros in a bid to claim one of the two grand-slam titles she is yet to win.

The second seed made a solid start to her campaign with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory over Frenchwoman Emilie Loit but admitted her troublesome shoulder was still causing her pain.

“I play tennis because I love challenges. This is just another challenge I want to have against myself.”

Sharapova joined fifth-seed and home favourite Amelie Mauresmo, as well as third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, in being the last of the big names to progress from the first round.

Mauresmo survived a belated fightback from Laura Granville to secure a 6-0 7-5 victory on Suzanne Lenglen court, while last year’s runner-up Kuznetsova cruised past fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-0 6-3.

Yesterday saw the second round start, and reigning champion Justine Henin-Hardenne was the star attraction.

The Belgian, the top seed, is looking to win her third straight Roland Garros title, and she made it into round three following a 7-5 6-1 triumph over Tamira Paszek, of Austria.

Venus Williams sent down the biggest woman’s serve in grand-slam history during her 6-1 7-6 (10/8) second-round victory over plucky fellow American Ashley Harkleroad.

Williams, the 26th seed, unleashed a serve of 128m/h to overtake her previous mark of 125m/h, produced at Wimbledon in 1998 and 2001 and the US Open in 2004.

The American will play Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic next following the fourth seed’s 6-3 6-3 win over Catalina Castano.

Elena Dementieva, the 13th seed from Russia, also progressed to the third round thanks to a 7-5 7-5 win over France’s Mathilde Johansson.