Roddick departs in agony

Ossian Shine

American teenager Andy Roddick's French Open campaign ended in agony on Friday as fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and number seven Yevgeny Kafelnikov reached the last 16.

Roddick was forced to retire from his third-round match against sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt, leaving the court in tears after pulling his hamstring with the match poised at 7-6, 4-6, 2-2.

The 18-year-old had overcome crippling cramp to beat former champion Michael Chang in a five-set marathon in the last round and the defeat was the first on clay in his career having won titles in Atlanta and Houston this year.

"I pulled it in the last match and I pulled it again," Roddick said afterwards.

Earlier, Ferrero and former champion Kafelnikov eased into the last 16, but British hopes were dashed as 11th seed Tim Henman stumbled out on the Roland Garros clay.

Ferrero overcame a second set blip to oust fellow Spaniard Jacobo Diaz 6-1, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2, Kafelnikov crushed Belgium's Olivier Rochus 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Henman lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to Argentine claycourter Guillermo Canas.

Kafelnikov, who began his claycourt season by losing five of his first six matches, has suddenly found his stride in Paris.

OLD DIESEL

"I am like an old diesel car, it is very difficult to start the engine but once the engine is going it goes non-stop," said Kafelnikov, the 1996 French Open champion who will play Spain's Tommy Robredo in the next round.

Ferrero, winner of his maiden Masters title on Rome's clay courts last month, had led the second set of his match 4-1 before allowing qualifier Diaz - junior champion at Roland Garros in 1994 - to pinch it in a tiebreak.

That set was the only one Ferrero has lost in the tournament as he stays on track for a semifinal clash with top seed and world number one Gustavo Kuerten, who takes on Morocco's Karim Alami in the third round later on Friday.

Ferrero, who is showing no signs of the thigh injury which hampered him in the Hamburg Masters final last month, will next face 14th seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, who beat Czech Jiri Novak 6-2, 6-3, 6-7, 2-6, 8-6.

"I've played a lot of matches on clay in the last month and am feeling very confident," Ferrero said.

CLAYCOURT KNOW-HOW

Henman lost a French Open third-round match in five sets for the third straight year as Canas's claycourt know-how proved too much for him and the world number 82 will face Hewitt in the last 16.

The 26-year-old Henman, who is currently without a coach, said he didn't know why he kept losing five-setters on clay.

"It's certainly not fitness or lack of effort," he said.

On the women's side, Belgian 12th and 14th seeds Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin continued their seemingly effortless progress through the field.

Clijsters beat Spain's Marta Marrero 6-2, 6-2, while Henin celebrated her 19th birthday with a confident 6-3, 6-4 victory over Virginie Razzano of France.

Clijsters, along with Henin and Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic, is one of only three seeds left in the bottom half of the draw, which is opening up perfectly for her.

"I feel good, I am feeling a lot better on this clay than I was last year," said the 17-year-old, who has not dropped a set and will next play Henrieta Nagyova.

"I think I have improved and that I can definitely play even better," she added. "I am confident and every win I get makes me more and more confident."

Fifteenth seed Dokic meets Hungarian qualifier Petra Mandula later on Friday.

Two unseeded Italian women reached the last 16.

Rita Grande beat Spaniard Cristina Torrens Valero 6-3 6-1 and Silvia Farina Elia defeated Czech Daja Bedanova 7-5, 7-6.

Barbara Schett, the conqueror of second seed Venus Williams in the first round, also continued her progress, the Austrian knocking out another Spaniard, Nuria Llagostera, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.