PARIS (AP):
IRRITATED BY the home crowd's heckling, James Blake took the unusual step of inviting a spectator out of the stands to see for himself that one of French teen Gael Monfils' shots landed out.
In truth, Blake's biggest obstacle yesterday wasn't the fans, it was Monfils himself, a 6' 3" blur on the baseline who advanced to the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (1), 5-7, 6-4 victory over the last U.S. man in the French Open.
Venus Williams is now the only American still playing.
Monfils is "faster than anyone I've ever played against," the No. 8-seeded Blake said. "He gets so many balls, especially on this surface, with it being that slow. Makes you win the point a few times. I just didn't do that."
For a while, it looked as if Williams might be joining Blake on the next flight out of town.
But after making 19 unforced errors in the first set against No. 7 Patty Schnyder, Williams came back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 with a lot of success at the net.
Had Williams lost, there would have been no Americans in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time in the 38-year Open era.
"Lone flag waving gently in the wind," said Williams, aiming for her sixth Grand Slam title but first at Roland Garros.
Her quarter-final opponent will be 17-year-old Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, a big hitter who eliminated No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2, much to the chagrin of the French fans.
Williams might have caught another break when 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, a possible semi-final opponent, blew a 5-1 lead in the third set and lost 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to Dinara Safina, Marat Safin's younger sister.
Given her grit, Sharapova's collapse was surprising. Mauresmo's? Not so much. This is, after all, the major where she's had the least success, something she freely admits is a direct result of playing in front of her countrymen.
Once again, she received plenty of support. Once again, she acknowledged with a sigh, "I wasn't able to keep up my end of the bargain."
U.S. men haven't had much success lately in Paris, either, though that's more likely a result of emphasis on hard courts over clay back home.
"You have to give the Americans a break, too. They didn't grow up on this stuff, but they can still play on it, they can still be dangerous," no less an authority than top-ranked Roger Federer said. "It's just maybe they're not the big favourites like they are elsewhere."
That last statement applies to him, too: He's won each of the other majors at least twice but never been to a final at the French Open.
Federer moved a step closer to completing a non-calendar Grand Slam by beating No. 20 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, setting up a quarter-final against No. 12 Mario Ancic.
