Novak Djokovic became the first big-name player to be eliminated from the men's tournament at the French Open, losing to No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round yesterday.
The fourth-seeded Serb reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in each of the last two years, but could do little against Kohlschreiber while playing for the third time in three days.
"What is disappointing was that I couldn't find the rhythm throughout the whole match," said Djokovic, who completed a suspended three-set win from the previous round on Friday. "I was trying not to be frustrated with a lot of unforced errors. Tried to be positive and just wait for the chances."
Djokovic finished the match with 38 unforced errors, 16 more than Kohlschreiber.
No. 6 Andy Roddick managed to stick around, however, reaching the French Open's fourth round for the first time by beating Marc Gicquel of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.
Second-seeded Roger Federer and No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina also reached the fourth round, as did No. 2 Serena Williams and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic from the women's draw.
Federer, who was again stretched to four sets before beating Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, said the loss of Djokovic wasn't a big deal for him. The two were in the same side of the draw and could have met in the semi-finals.
Doesn't change anything
"Winning the semi-final is not winning the tournament, so it doesn't change anything," Federer said.
Roddick is only the second American to advance this far at the clay-court major since André Agassi in 2003, the same year Roddick won the US Open. Robby Ginepri also made the fourth round in Paris last year.
Roddick has reached at least the semi-finals at the other three majors. Besides winning the 2003 US Open, he also is a two-time runner-up at Wimbledon. But at the French Open, Roddick's best performance before this year was the third round in his 2001 debut.
Del Potro beat Igor Andreev of Russia 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, while No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, No. 11 Gael Monfils of France, No. 16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and Tommy Haas of Germany also gained the fourth round.
On the women's side, fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva lost to No. 30 Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Dementieva's exit came a day after No. 3 Venus Williams lost in straight sets.
Stosur converted seven of her 15 break points against Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up at Roland Garros.
Stosur has never before reached the fourth round at the French. She made it that far at the 2006 Australian Open, but has never played in the quarter-finals at a major.
"As that match went on today, I knew I could get there because I was playing (well) enough and was handling the conditions and everything maybe a little bit better than her," Stosur said.
Serena Williams rallied to beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Jankovic defeated 73rd-ranked Jarmila Groth of Australia 6-1, 6-1. No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.
Ball did touch her body
Williams was broken once in the first set, but she complained about the final point, which she believed hit her opponent's body. Martinez Sanchez said the ball hit her racket.
"The ball did touch her 100 per cent on her arm," Williams said. "The rules of tennis is when the ball hits your body, then it's out of play. You lose a point automatically. So the ball hit her body, and therefore, she should have lost the point instead of cheating."