Djokovic fights off del Potro at French

PARIS -- What was shaping up as a struggle for Novak Djokovic at the French Open suddenly turned into something of a stroll.

Tied at a set apiece with big-hitting 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro when play was suspended because of darkness a night earlier, Djokovic quickly faced two break points yesterday. He saved those, then broke del Potro in the next game, and that was pretty much that.

"If he serves well, he can beat anybody, really," Djokovic said. "I went [into] the match a bit more nervous than usual." If that's so, it didn't really show. Djokovic completed a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory in the third round, pushing his 2011 record to 40-0 and stretching his winning streak to 42 matches overall, including two Davis Cup matches in December.

Rafael Nadal reached the fourth round by beating qualifier Antonio Veic 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.

Americans ousted

Mardy Fish summed up the mindset of American tennis players at the French Open after his loss left the United States without a man or woman in the clay-court Grand Slam tournament's fourth round. "It's never too early," the 10th-seeded Fish said, "to think about grass for us."

Only once before in the Open era, which began in 1968, had zero men or women from the U.S. reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament -- and that was at the 1973 Australian Open, when no Americans entered.

Fish was beaten 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 by 18th-seeded Gilles Simon. Earlier in the day, the last U.S. woman playing singles at Roland Garros, 115th-ranked Vania King, lost 6-4, 6-2 to No. 9-seeded Petra Kvitova. Nine men and nine women from the U.S. entered the French Open. -- AP