As Ivan Lendl continues to slide, Jim Courier just gets stronger.
While Lendl suffered another early-round defeat Friday, Courier put on another overpowering display and moved a step closer to defending his French Open title.Courier advanced to the final 16 by punishing Alberto Mancini of Argentina 6-4, 6-2, 6-0, leaving no doubt he's the man to beat again this year.
"I'm taking everything in stride," he said. "My name's not going to come off last year's trophy, and hopefully I can stencil another one on there this year."
Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang were among other winners Friday, but it was Courier who was the most convincing.
He hasn't dropped a set and has beaten two of the world's most dangerous clay-court players - Thomas Muster and Mancini - on consecutive days.
"Any time you can get through the first three rounds without being pressed, you have to be happy," he said. "I'm very pleased to get through relatively fatigue-free. I'm feeling fresh."
The first set against Mancini was even as the two slugged it out from the baseline and stayed on serve - until Courier capitalized on two errors to break at 5-4.
It was one-sided after that as Courier wore Mancini down. Courier, who is known mostly for his relentless ground strokes, did lots of damage with his serve and never faced a break point the entire match.
"I couldn't return his serve," Mancini said. "There was no chance to break him. That puts a lot of pressure on your own serve. For him, it's easy when you're No. 1 and you're winning so much to be mentally tough."
It used to be that way for Lendl, a former world No. 1 and three-time French Open champion. But his freefall from the top continued as he lost to Jaime Oncins of Brazil 3-6, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 8-6.
After a rain suspension Thursday evening, the match resumed with Oncins serving at 5-5 in the fifth set. The first game went to deuce seven times and Lendl had four break points, but Oncins kept hitting forehand winners and finally held.
Three games later, Oncins broke Lendl for the match. After a long baseline rally on match point, Oncins hit a backhand drop shot. Lendl reached the ball and scooped back a forehand, but Oncins replied with a backhand pass down the line - then celebrated by falling into a crouch and doing a little dance.
"I played relaxed," Oncins said. "In the last game, he missed some shots he normally wouldn't miss. I think in this game he played a little bit nervous."
Lendl, 32, has slipped to No. 12 in the world rankings and has been losing consistently in the early rounds. But he said he is not going to panic.
"Usually when something starts going bad, it starts piling up and that's been the case with me lately," he said. "But I suppose it will come around again. You just can't get desperate. You have to keep trying, be positive and be patient. You can't doubt yourself."
Edberg, the No. 2 seed, beat Gabriel Markus of Argentina 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The second-round match had been suspended Thursday with Edberg leading 3-1 in the fourth set.
After Marcus came from behind to force a decisive fifth set, Edberg got the decisive break to go up 5-4. He then served out the match, slamming the ball into the stands with joy.
Marcus said the key was that Edberg took the initiative on the big points. "He knew when to put on the pressure."
"If you have the chance to take control of the points, you have to do it," Edberg said.
The same principle applied in Agassi's 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 (7-4) win over Goran Prpic of Croatia. It was Agassi's toughest match so far.
After closing out the match with a backhand passing shot, Agassi bowed to all corners of the court one stadium and threw a shirt into the stands.
Chang, the 1989 French Open champ and No. 5 seed, moved into the third round with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Marco Aurelio Gorriz of Spain. Pete Sampras, No. 3, beat France's Rodolphe Gilbert 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
No. 13 Aaron Krickstein reached the third round by outlasting fellow American Malivai Washington 4-6, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. That means five Americans are still in contention.
"Clay is a surface Americans are getting to know better and better," said Chang. "In a sense Americans are learning a little bit more from what they have done wrong in the past and have adjusted their games accordingly."