PARIS -- The first post-match interview question was succinct: What went wrong?

	Andy Roddick says it's not his coach's fault that he's losing.

"I don't know," Andy Roddick said, with an admirable sense of theater, "if we have that much time."

On Sunday in Austria, Roddick won his fifth tennis match on clay in seven days. On Tuesday at Roland Garros, he was clueless against Armenian Sargis Sargsian. The 20-year-old American won a first-set tiebreaker, then won only seven games in the final three sets in a crushing 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 defeat.

How, exactly, does that happen to the No. 6-seeded man?

"It's between the ears, man," Roddick said. "I mean, it's weird going from, you know, feeling like you're playing pretty well to not really knowing what you're doing out there. I guess that's what makes tennis unique.

"I just wasn't finding the court. I wasn't doing what I wanted to do. Just felt like I was not only fighting against Sargis, but against my own game."

He wasn't alone. It was a brutal day for the American men in general.

Five of the six who played on Tuesday lost: Roddick to Sargsian, Michael Chang, to Fabrice Santoro in straight sets, Brian Vahaly managed to take one set from No.1-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, Jan-Michael Gambill won only five games against Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Mardy Fish fell to Germany's Lars Burgsmuller in four sets.

In fact, the only American to win was creaking Todd Martin -- a relative fossil at 32 -- who handled Jose Acasuso of Argentina after losing the first set.

So much for the young Americans.

	“	I don't know, I just started unraveling pretty much in the second set. Obviously, it got way out of hand in the third set. Even more out of hand in the fourth. Then I kind of got back to, you know, where there was some kind of hope ... just kind of blew it. ”
		— Andy Roddick

After two days here, there are only four left: No. 2-seeded Andre Agassi, No. 22 James Blake, No. 29 Vince Spadea and Martin. Average age: a doddering 29.

And while No. 3-seeded Venus Williams, No. 6 Lindsay Davenport and No. 7 Jennifer Capriati all won in straight sets, Monica Seles lost 6-4, 6-0 to Russia's Nadia Petrova. It was the first time in 40 Grand Slam events that Seles lost in the first round. In January, she made her earliest exit at the Australian Open, losing to a qualifier in the second round.

She has been troubled by a serious left foot injury that forced her to withdraw from three tournaments earlier this year. Instead of undergoing surgery and the six to nine months of rehabilitation it would have required, Seles chose instead to play.

"I wasn't coming in with too many expectations," said the three-time French Open champion. "I just really wanted to try to play. Obviously, my wish to play, my performance, is not matching it. I have to accept that."

Roddick is rapidly becoming a conundrum of sorts.

He's young, but he has shown enough flashes of talent that many observers have been moved to predict great things for him. He won last week at St. Polten, defeating dangerous Nikolay Davydenko -- a wonderful clay player -- in a straight-sets final. It was his first title outside of the United States and it seemed to set him up nicely for Roland Garros, where he had struggled.

Roddick lost in the first round a year ago, in five sets to Wayne Arthurs. In his debut in 2001, Roddick reached the third round before retiring against Hewitt with a strained left hamstring. That same year, he beat Chang in a torch-passing match that seemed to predict a bright future.

On this day, Chang and Roddick left together after a single match.

After prevailing in the tiebreaker, Roddick went south -- all the way to the French Riviera.

"When you're taken to a tiebreaker, you're not thinking, 'This is going easily,' " Roddick explained. "I don't know, I just started unraveling pretty much in the second set. Obviously, it got way out of hand in the third set. Even more out of hand in the fourth.

"Then I kind of got back to, you know, where there was some kind of hope ... just kind of blew it."

Roddick broke Sargsian in the eighth game of the fourth set to get back on serve but couldn't hold serve in the ninth.

"If I held, maybe he starts thinking a little bit," Roddick said. "I didn't take care of my end of the deal. That gave him some confidence, and he was able to serve big in the last game."

So what now for Roddick?

He won his first five matches at the Australian Open, advancing to the semifinals before losing to Rainer Schuettler. He has reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open the last two years. But now, there are back-to-back first-round exits in Paris.

Roddick's coach Tarik Benhabiles, a Frenchman, came under criticism after the match.

"Every time I lose, it's a coaching change," Roddick complained. "I love it. You guys just won't quit.

"No, I mean, my coach didn't lose the match. He's smart. I'm the one losing the matches. We've been together for four years; he's the perfect fit. But there's not much you can do from the stands when your player's playing like crap."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.