United state of shock: American men ousted

Only one U.S. player remains in the draw — Robby Ginepri.

PARIS (AP) — Andy Roddick knows the story well, so he politely declined the official match DVD that players are offered at the French Open.

“No, thanks,” the No. 3-seeded Roddick said. “I just don’t want to see that ever again.”

He had just exited in the first round at Roland Garros for the fourth time in six years, a four-set loss to 125th-ranked Igor Andreev of Russia that was part of an 0-8 showing by U.S. men Tuesday at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament.

The worst American performance at the French Open in at least 30 years began, understandably enough, at the hands of No. 1 Roger Federer. He started his quest for a fourth consecutive major title by finishing a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Michael Russell in a match suspended by rain during the second set Monday.

Then Justin Gimelstob lost to No. 32 Nicolas Almagro in straight sets. Amer Delic was sent home by 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Roddick’s 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 departure came next, followed in quick succession by those of Robert Kendrick, Sam Querrey, a racket-tossing Vince Spadea and No. 8 James Blake, who watched 22 aces zoom past in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 defeat to 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic near day’s end.

Last man standing

One of their countrymen remained in the draw, at least until play resumes: The ninth and final U.S. representative, Robby Ginepri, split the first two sets against Diego Hartfield of Argentina before their match was suspended because of fading light.

“It’s no secret we haven’t done that great on clay this year,” Blake said, “but I think we have the ability.”

Granted, they’re hardly the only American men who’ve found the red clay of Paris more troublesome than what’s underfoot at other majors. No U.S. man won the French Open between Tony Trabert in 1955 and Michael Chang in 1989, and Andre Agassi was the last to do it, in 1999.

Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors never hoisted a French Open singles trophy. Connors is now Roddick’s coach and had a front-row seat as Andreev accumulated a stunning 38-1 edge in forehand winners.

“A loss is never any good. But the good thing is, from my standpoint, I can understand,” Connors said. “I can understand, because I had some tough times here myself.”

Still, it’s not as though Roddick, Blake and Co. are coming as close as McEnroe, who reached the final in Paris, or Sampras and Connors, who reached the semifinals. And consider this: Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy all have three men in this French Open’s second round. France has 11, Argentina nine.

“It’s frustrating, but we’ll hopefully get it back on grass,” Blake said. “I promise we won’t have all eight guys losing in the first round at Wimbledon.”

Limited action

Showers limited action on Days 1 and 2, creating a backlog of matches, but the clouds finally parted Tuesday. Fans swapped umbrellas for sunglasses, the better to catch glimpses of various story lines — including a French Open-record six men quitting first-round matches because of illness or injury.

Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal, playing for the first time since his 81-match clay winning streak was stopped by Federer this month, began a fresh run. His opponent, Juan Martin del Potro, served for the first set at 5-3, but Nadal broke him, reeled off eight consecutive games and won in straight sets.

A third highly-seeded man joined Roddick and Blake on the way out when No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez, the runner-up to Federer at the Australian Open, lost to Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Other results of note included wins by 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio and two-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt, while No. 28 Philipp Kohlschreiber outlasted Lukas Dlouhy 17-15 in the fifth set.