Tennis: Roddick distraught at exit in Paris

PARIS - Andy Roddick expressed his deep disappointment after his French Open hopes were ground into the Roland Garros clay by a tenacious Argentine who never lost belief.

With the second seed's demise, American chances of a men's champion at the second grand slam of the year also disappeared.

Journeyman Jose Acasuso won 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 8-6 in three hours 21 minutes, propelling him into the third round of a grand slam for the first time and leaving Roddick a second-round loser in Paris for the second year in a row.

"I hate it... I mean, it's terrible," the former world No 1 said. "I mean, that pretty much sums it up... I want to do well here so badly.

"I'll tell you, it's an extremely long plane flight home. After this, you just kind of want to regroup and then you can't wait to get out there and try to right a wrong again.

"The only thing I can do is keep working hard... just do my best to turn it around."

In the women's singles, Maria Sharapova remained ice-cool under a blistering sun to repel the free hitting of French wild card Aravane Rezai and reach the third round.

After a shaky first round in which she was stretched to three sets by fellow Russian Evgenia Linetskaya, the second seed upped her game to beat fellow 18-year-old Rezai 6-3 6-2 on centre court.

Sharapova dismissed concerns over her claycourt form with an assured performance against a gutsy opponent buoyed by her home fans.

Rezai, ranked 242 places behind the world No 2, had a simple game plan of pelting the ball as hard as she could and going for winners.

It served her well in the opening exchanges as she streaked into a 3-1 lead but Wimbledon champion Sharapova kept her cool to reel in the Frenchwoman.

"She had nothing to lose and she was just going for her shots," Sharapova said.

"Some balls were just too good. But I finally started feeling a good rhythm out there and began playing better."

Rezai was a little less gracious in defeat when asked if she had found the Wimbledon champion impressive.

"Well, not especially," she said. "There's a lot of media around her, but she's a player among other players."

Third seed Amelie Mauresmo and Moscow-born Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin soon restored home pride, however.

Seventeenth seed Golovin thrashed Italy's Antonella Serra Zanetti 6-0 6-1 and Mauresmo pummelled young compatriot Alize Cornet 6-0 6-2.

Belgian former world No 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne refused to let a sore back sidetrack her as she beat Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1 6-4.

Men's third seed Marat Safin refused to bow to a painful knee and thundered into the third round with a 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-1 win over Czech Lukas Dlouhy.

The Australian Open champion next faces fellow former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero after the Spaniard beat Czech Jan Hernych 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Guillermo Coria advanced after his Serbian opponent Novak Djokovic retired with respiratory problems. Argentine Coria, runner-up to compatriot Gaston Gaudio last year, was leading 4-6 6-2 3-2 when Djokovic quit.

- REUTERS