Ferrero, Kafelnikov in last 16

Ossian Shine

Fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and number seven Yevgeny Kafelnikov eased into the last 16 at the French Open on Friday as British number one 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 or Czech Jiri Novak.

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

CLAYCOURT KNOW-HOW

Henman, the 11th seed, 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.

Canas, the world number 82, will face American teenager Andy Roddick or Australian sixth seed Lleyton 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 Nathalie Dechy or Henrieta Nagyova.

MORE CONFIDENT

"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.

In other early third-round action, 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.

There is now just one Spanish woman left in the draw, last year's runner-up Conchita Martinez.