End of road for Novak,Elena

Novak Djokovic became the first big-name player to be eliminated from the mens tournament at the French Open...

Novak Djokovic became the first big-name player to be eliminated from the mens tournament at the French Open,losing to No 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4 6-4 6-4 on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Serb reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in each of the last two years,but could do little against Kohlschreiber while playing for the third time in three days. What is disappointing was that I couldnt find the rhythm throughout the whole match, said Djokovic.

No 6 Andy Roddick managed to stick around,however,reaching the French Opens fourth round for the first time by beating Marc Gicquel of France 6-1 6-4 6-4.

Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro also advanced,beating Igor Andreev of Russia 6-4 7-5 6-4. No 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France,No 11 Gael Monfils of France,No 16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and Tommy Haas of Germany also made the fourth round.

On the womens side,fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva lost to No 30 Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-3 4-6 6-1. Dementievas exit came a day after No 3 Venus Williams lost in straight sets. Stosur converted seven of her 15 break points against Dementieva,the 2004 runner-up at Roland Garros.

I just feel Im far away from… being in good shape, Dementieva said. I feel like I couldnt perform any better.

Second seed Serena Williams rallied to beat Spains Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6 6-3 6-4,while 5th-seeded Jelena Jankovic and No 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova easily won. Jankovic beat Australias Jarmila Groth 6-1 6-1. Kuznetsova beat Hungarys Melinda Czink 6-1 6-3. (AP)

Paes-Dlouhy in quarters

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Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy edged past Frances Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3) 6-3 to enter the doubles quarter-finals,while Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles edged past Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherland Antilles 7-6 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) into the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian mixed doubles campaign ended though. Bhupathi and Sania Mirza went down 6-1 7-5 to the French-Israeli duo of Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram,while Paes and Zimbabwes Cara Black lost 6-0 1-6 10-6 to Austrias Sybille Barmer and Pole Lukasz Kubot.