Henin-Hardenne, Roddick Bow Out of the French Open

PARIS —  Court Suzanne Lenglen was wickedly transformed -- depending on one’s point of view, of course -- into a house of horrors at the French Open on Wednesday.

It swallowed the defending women’s champion (Justine Henin-Hardenne) and took out a seeded female player from France (Emilie Loit). Finally, it claimed the lone American remaining in the men’s singles draw (Andy Roddick), meaning it is the first time in the Open era that none made the third round, in any Grand Slam tournament.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Roddick said. “There’s no doubt there are issues with clay.... That’s something we’re going to have to fix. That’s not a secret. If anybody’s going to deny that, you know, you might want to ask them again.”

His match, which followed Henin-Hardenne’s, was the culmination of high drama on the picturesque clay court. The day’s action started with a sunny morning and finished in heavy, cloudy conditions at 8 p.m., with some rain in between. The nightcap featured a taut five-set drama involving second-seeded Roddick and Olivier Mutis of France. Mutis, who had not won a match on the main tour this year before the French Open, rallied from a set and a service break down and a two-set-to-one deficit to stun Roddick, winning, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2, in 3 hours 10 minutes.

Roddick’s day was odd. His sleep was disrupted by fire alarms at his hotel about 6 a.m. It was a false alarm but disconcerting, especially after his experience in the recent Rome hotel fire, in which he helped rescue several people.

His cause wasn’t helped later when light rain started and officials opted not to cover the court after Henin-Hardenne’s match. Then he started “waffling” about match strategy when Mutis shifted to Plan B, taking fuller cuts off Roddick’s inside-out forehands.

“He definitely made a mid-match change,” Roddick said. “Maybe I tried to counter it too fast.”

Said Mutis, who is ranked No. 125 and had never reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament: “I thought that by playing down the line, I would start giving him trouble, and I did.”

And so, 10 American men made the trip to Paris, and 10 were done after three days. In a Gallic twist, considering the state of world affairs, it was France 5, United States 1.

In the first three days, qualifier Jerome Haehnel beat Andre Agassi, Sebastien Grosjean defeated qualifier Kevin Kim, qualifier Julien Jeanpierre beat Vince Spadea, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5, on Wednesday, and there was Mutis, who took out Robby Ginepri and Roddick in consecutive rounds.

“It was one of the worst losses in my career in terms of, you know, on paper,” said Spadea, who had defeated a French qualifier in the opening round Monday.

Other than the French fans at Roland Garros, the happiest folks on the grounds had to be British reporters, who were delighted that they still had a player in the men’s draw. Tim Henman landed in the third round and will next play Galo Blanco of Spain.

The U.S. women remained immune to the virus. Three advanced to the third round: No. 5 Lindsay Davenport beat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain, 6-4, 6-1; qualifier Marissa Irvin of Santa Monica upset No. 32 Dinara Safina of Russia, 7-6 (5), 6-2; and Meghann Shaughnessy defeated No. 15 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, 6-3, 3-6, 9-7, in 2 hours 56 minutes.

But the big women’s story was the exit of top-seeded Henin-Hardenne of Belgium. Tathiana Garbin of Italy defeated Henin-Hardenne, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round, marking only the second time the defending women’s champion lost so early here. In 1990, Mercedes Paz of Argentina beat the defending champion, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, in the second round.

Henin-Hardenne, who was sidelined about six weeks because of a lingering virus, has hardly been her usual self, misfiring with her forehand and often displaying shoddy footwork, resulting from a lack of match play.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of, there’s nothing to hide,” Henin-Hardenne said. “You’ve got to accept that it’s human and it’s happened to a number of other players before me.”

What hurt Henin-Hardenne was that her hopes were raised after a sharp first-round victory against wild card Sandrine Testud of France. Henin-Hardenne, who had won three of the last four Grand Slam tournaments, was asked whether this was her toughest defeat and admitted it may have been.

Said Garbin: “I don’t really believe yet that I beat her.”

Garbin, ranked No. 86, became the first Italian woman to beat a reigning No. 1, according to the WTA. There was also one more slice of history: Jie Zheng, who beat No. 31 Loit, 6-4, 6-1, is the first Chinese woman to reach the third round at the French Open.