PARIS -- Theoretically, the matches are supposed to get tougher as you move through the draw.

	Serena Williams has more in common with Andre Agassi than a penchant for blowing kisses. They're both perfect in the majors this year.

But with history beckoning, Serena Williams looks razor sharp as she moves toward her fifth consecutive Grand Slam singles victory.

On Friday, top-seeded Serena Williams blew into the fourth round of the French Open, blasting Barbara Schett of Austria 6-0, 6-0. The match on Court Philippe Chatrier required only 40 minutes. Back in the States, it's called a bagel. Here, the French call those double-zeroes a bicycle, as in two big wheels.

"It wasn't as easy as it looked," Williams said, not sounding convincing. "I'm just really focused here. I want to do well at this tournament. This is a Grand Slam."

And Schett is no stiff. She's been ranked as high as No. 7 in the world and in 2001 she knocked Venus Williams out in the first round here, at a time when Venus was ranked No. 2.

It was the second 6-0, 6-0 match of Williams' career, going back to 1998 versus Larisa Neiland in Los Angeles. Schett won exactly six points in the 17-minute second set.

Williams has now lost only eight games in six sets. Next up is Ai Sugiyama of Japan, the No. 16 seed, who ousted America's Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1, 6-4.

And then there was one
The tournament is only five days old and, already, the total of American men is down to, well, one.

That would be one Andre Kirk Agassi, the No. 2 seed. He dusted Xavier Malisse of Belgium in straight sets -- the perfect antidote to the fatigue inspired by his five-set second-round marathon victory over Mario Ancic.

	Andre Agassi was pleased to get through in straight sets on Friday after his five-set marathon in the previous round.

"It all helps," Agassi said. "Just getting through it, period, is more important. But certainly the easier you do it, the better it means you're playing. Today, I constructed the match very well, and played well at the right time, at the end of each set and finished it off. That's a huge step for me from the last one I played."

Like Serena Williams -- they were both champions of the Australian Open in January -- Agassi is the only man with a chance to complete this year's Grand Slam. He won on the clay in Houston in late April, but when he was decked in the first round at Rome by David Ferrer after winning the first set 6-0, there were questions about his preparation. Agassi, at 33 the oldest man in the tournament, has a streamlined schedule this year; he's an efficient 23-2 so far this year.

"This gives me a lot of confidence going into the second week," Agassi said. "Now, that I've got my clay feet going, I'm starting to feel comfortable."

Vince Spadea, the 28-year-old resident of Boca Raton, Fla., beat a Dutchman in the second round but fell to another, Martin Verkerk, in the third round on Friday. The score: 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5. Spadea was his typically scrappy self, but Verkerk has a big, big serve -- he hit one 139 miles an hour -- and a beautiful, fluid backhand.

Spadea said he made a calculated decision to play Verkerk's serve 8 to 12 feet behind the baseline. Initially, it proved to be a sound strategy.

"It seemed like it was the right play," Spadea said. "But at the same time, it drains your legs to play the rest of the match. These matches are best-of-five. Every time I've played him, it's always 7-6 in the third, 7-5 in the third, and I've never been tired. Here, I was tired by the second set. He told me in the locker room, he was exhausted at 2-all in the second set."

At 82 degrees and humidity past 50 percent, it was the hottest day of the tournament so far.

Streak in jeopardy
Wayne Ferreira, the No. 22 seed from South Africa, was carried out of Court 1 on a stretcher after pulling a groin muscle.

He was trailing Rainer Schuettler two sets to one but leading 3-2 in the fourth, when he got caught in an awkward position along the baseline. He appeared to nearly complete a split and then rolled to the clay in pain. Later, it was diagnosed as a strained aducter muscle.

This was Ferreira's 50th consecutive Grand Slam appearance, a monumental number in this age of highly strung athletes. The record is 54 consecutive Slams, by Sweden's Stefan Edberg. Ferreira's 51st, Wimbledon, two weeks from now, is very much in doubt.

History, however, says that Ferreira is a fast healer when it comes to Grand Slams.

In 1998, he retired here in a third-round match, rolling his ankle badly against Marcelo Rios. Two weeks later, he played at Wimbledon.