| | Associated Press
PARIS -- American men's tennis has hit bottom at the French
Open.
Not even a gutsy performance by Michael Chang for three hours
into the waning twilight at Roland Garros on Friday could prevent
the earliest wipeout of American men in 33 years of Grand Slam
play.
Midway through the third round, all nine American men who
started the tournament were gone -- from Pete Sampras in the first
round to defending champion Andre Agassi in the second to Chang in
the third.
|  | | Gustavo Kuerten smacks a backhand return during his victory over Michael Chang on Friday. |
Chang, the youngest French Open champion in 1989, played with
his old indefatigable spirit but couldn't quite keep up with 1997
champion Gustavo Kuerten in a 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-1, 6-4 defeat.
Chang was the last American standing two years ago at the end of
the third round when he departed the French -- the only other time
the entire U.S. men's contingent failed to reach the fourth round
in a major tournament since the open era began in 1968.
But the depth of the American fiasco this time was underscored
by the small number of U.S. players who qualified for a Grand Slam
event that U.S. men have won four times since 1989.
"Generally speaking, the French is the one that the Americans
tend to struggle with the most," Chang said. "We didn't really
have that many Americans to start with. We do have some talented
players. I think it's going to take some time to see what happens
with their games. It is a little bit difficult to see if there is
another group to follow the group we had. The group we had is very
exceptional."
That group included two-time French champion Jim Courier, who
recently retired. Sampras and Chang are 28, Todd Martin is 29, and
Agassi is 30.
"I don't know if you're going to be able to see that for a long
time," Chang said.
No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who played five-setters the first two
rounds, wasted a chance to finish a match quickly when he was up
two sets and a break against Sebastien Grosjean. Kafelnikov then
blew a 5-1 lead in the fourth set before finally closing it out
6-3, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
No. 10 Alex Corretja beat former Wimbledon champion Richard
Krajicek 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
"It was really important to keep my serve, not to get crazy
with his serve because he was serving huge, great," Corretja said.
Unseeded Mark Philippoussis, a first-round winner against No. 2
Pete Sampras, beat Hicham Arazi 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. | |
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