PARIS -- The hype regarding American men's tennis failed to translate in the French Open.

A group of highly touted U.S. youngsters fared poorly at Roland Garros, leaving just one American in the field by Friday afternoon: 33-year-old Andre Agassi.

By contrast, nine U.S. women reached the third round, including top-seeded defending champion Serena Williams.

Among the 12 American men already eliminated are sixth-seeded Andy Roddick, No. 24 James Blake, Mardy Fish, Taylor Dent and Brian Vahaly, all 23 or younger. Blake lost in the second round, the others in the first round.

The five youngsters have all improved their rankings since the start of the year, and all expected to do better at Roland Garros.

"We're all struggling right now,'' said Blake, who lost Thursday. "At least we went through it together.''

U.S. men have a long history of faring poorly in the French Open. They went from 1955 (Tony Trabert) to 1989 (Michael Chang) without a champion. The American touted by many as the greatest player ever, Pete Sampras, never even reached a French final.

The problem, Blake said, is that Americans don't grow up playing on clay, while many Europeans and South Americans do.

"We're supposedly world-class athletes,'' he said. "Even world-class athletes can't adjust in one week or two weeks to something the other guys have been doing for their whole life. That makes it difficult.''

Nearly a third of the winners Thursday, for example, were Spanish. That included defending champion Albert Costa, 2002 runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero, 20th-seeded Felix Mantilla, No. 28 Tommy Robredo and Fernando Vincente.

Perhaps things will be different for the young Americans once the grass-court season begins next month. On the other hand, at last year's Wimbledon, there were no U.S. men in the fourth round for the first time in 80 years.

"We've got a young batch of players that are starting to run into a bit of a speed bump,'' said American Todd Martin, 32, who also lost Thursday. "This period of time is going to be a big challenge for our younger players. Their games are certainly up to it, and I'm pretty confident that mentally and emotionally they're up to dealing with this dose of reality.''

As for clay, Blake said he and other young Americans need to start practicing on it more. The motivation, he said, will be to show they can win at Roland Garros.

"A lot of people have been hyping this young generation, saying we're going to do great things,'' Blake said. "It's rare to hear people say we can't do something.''