Tennis-Open-French men scythe through field as women miss out

PARIS May 30 (Reuters) - A trio of French men dashed into the fourth round at Roland Garros on Friday while hopes of ending the eight-year drought since a home women's winner petered out with a whimper.

Wildcard Jeremy Chardy, Michael Llodra and Paul-Henri Mathieu all booked last 16 places and they could be joined by Gael Monfils, Florent Serra and Julien Benneteau to make it a record six French men in the fourth round since tennis turned professional in 1968.

The current record stands at five in the vintage year of 1971.

Chardy, who before this week had only won two matches on the ATP Tour, clinched his third grand slam victory with a 7-6 6-3 6-4 defeat of Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

World number 145 Chardy, who had knocked out Argentine sixth seed David Nalbandian on Thursday, was joined by compatriot Llodra, a 7-6 6-4 7-6 winner over Italy's Simone Bolelli.

Paul-Henri Mathieu, seeded 18, held his nerve to beat Argentine Eduardo Schwank 6-2 6-3 3-6 7-6.

The outstanding performance of the men is all the more surprising given that French number one Richard Gasquet and Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both pulled out with knee injuries.

In stark contrast, there will be no French name when organisers complete the women's fourth-round line-up on Saturday.

It is the first time since 1996 that no Frenchwoman has made the last 16.

After Marion Bartoli's first-round exit and Amelie Mauresmo's second-round defeat, the weight of local hopes was on Alize Cornet's shoulders.

But the 18-year-old Rome finalist could not match Agnieszka Radwanska's pace and bowed out when she was beaten 6-4 6-4 on Court One on Friday.

There was a flicker of hope for Emilie Loit but the world number 108 lost 7-6 5-7 6-2 to Swiss 10th seed Patty Schnyder.

(Editing by Miles Evans)