FRENCH OPEN
(Paris)
Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian, Juan Ignacio Chela and Gaston Gaudio weren't even born when Argentina last had a men's champion here.
That honour fell to Guillermo Vilas in 1977, but the long wait could soon be over, with all four men making it through to the quarter-finals.
Before this year, the most Argentines at a Grand Slam quarter-final stage had been two, when Jose Luis-Clerc and Vilas reached the last eight here in 1982.
That mark was equalled by Nalbandian and Coria at the US Open in 2003.
However, Nalbandian, who takes on triple champion Gustavo Kuerten tomorrow for a place in the semifinals, believes there is no magic formula for the success - just hard graft.
"It's great. Never in history has this happened before," Nalbandian, 22, said. "We are a very strong team and we all work very hard. Now I hope there will be four Argentines in the semifinals."
That could be a possibility, with all four men managing to avoid one another in the last eight.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt equalled his best performance here by grinding his way into the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) victory over unseeded Belgian Xavier Malisse.
Hewitt, the former world No 1 who reached the last eight in 2001, was too consistent throughout and eased to victory in two hours and 45 minutes to set up a clash with Gaudio.
Men's singles, fourth round (prefix denotes seeding): 28-G. Kuerten (Brazil) bt 23-F. Lopez (Spain) 6-3 7-5 6-4, G. Gaudio (Argentina) bt I. Andreev (Russia) 6-4 7-5 6-3, 8-D. Nalbandian (Argentina) bt 20-M. Safin (Russia) 7-5 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3, 12-L. Hewitt (Australia) bt X. Malisse (Belgium) 7-5 6-2 7-6 (8-6).
Quarter-finals: Kuerten v Nalbandian, Gaudio v Hewitt, 5-C. Moya (Spain) v 3-G. Coria (Argentina), Henman v 22-J. I. Chela (Argentina).
Doubles, quarter-finals: 3-M. Bhupathi (India)/M. Mirnyi (Belarus) bt K. Braasch (Germany)/S. Sargsian (Armenia) 6-3 6-4, 1-B. Bryan/M. Bryan (US) bt 7-W. Black/K. Ullyett (Zimbabwe) 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.
Tennis
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