Roddick dazzles Paris as Dementieva fades

By Pritha Sarkar

PARIS (Reuters) - Andy Roddick produced a sizzling display to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the first time but Elena Dementieva's hopes of winning a maiden grand slam title fizzled out on Saturday.

Roland Garros has never been a happy hunting ground for Roddick as the highlight of his seven previous visits had been a third round appearance on his debut in 2001.

He finally climbed over that hump with a brilliantly crafted 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Marc Gicquel, holding his arms aloft in triumph as he watched the Frenchman's service return sail over his head and beyond the baseline on match point.

"It's three matches, it's a lot better than I've done here before," a beaming Roddick said before he walked off court.

"I'd like to keep going. I don't even have anything else to do next week. I'd like to stick around."

While Roddick was enjoying a French Open renaissance, women's fourth seed Dementieva was already looking ahead to Wimbledon after fading to a 6-3 4-6 6-1 defeat by Australian Samantha Stosur.

The Russian was lucky to survive the previous round as she was trailing by a set when another Australian, Jelena Dokic, was forced to quit injured.

There was to be no respite on Saturday and after being dragged around court for more than two hours, a lethargic Dementieva looked almost relieved when Stosur's forehand winner flew past her outstretched racket on match point.