PARIS - Jennifer Capriati advanced Thursday to the third round of the French Open, which is better than any American man did.

The No. 7-seeded Capriati, who won the tournament in 2001, survived a sluggish start and beat Kveta Peschke 7-5, 6-3.

Capriati was one of four top-10 American women still in the draw. With Andy Roddick's loss Wednesday, no U.S. men reached the third round, the first time that's happened at a Grand Slam event in 31 years.

"I guess it's up to us to keep America alive here," Capriati said. "It's a different game out on the clay. For most of the American guys, it's difficult out there for them. For women it's more of an all-court game."

L'Equipe, France's leading daily sports newspaper, ran a small headline Thursday saying "U.S. Go Home." Written in English, the headline accompanied a chart comparing American results with other countries.

Capriati remained on course for a potential quarterfinal match against another American, No. 2-seeded Serena Williams. Capriati ended a streak of eight consecutive losses to Williams by beating her in the Rome semifinal two weeks ago.

Playing the day's first match on center court against Peschke, Capriati fell behind 5-3, then won six consecutive games to take control.

"I did what I had to do basically to win the match," Capriati said. "Maybe it took me a little while to get going and wake up."

In men's play, No. 12 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 26 Albert Costa advanced.

Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion, beat Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Costa, the 2002 champ, defeated Christophe Rochus 6-1, 6-2, 7-5.

No. 23 Feliciano Lopez beat Karol Kucera 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Three seeded women lost - No. 12 Ai Sugiyama, No. 16 Patty Schnyder and No. 29 Petra Mandula.

Sugiyama was upset by Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1. Shinobu Asagoe beat Schnyder 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Denisa Chladkova eliminated Mandula 6-2, 6-3.

No. 17 Francesca Schiavone beat Virginie Razzano 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Capriati drew scattered boos during her first-round win at Roland Garros and said she didn't know why. There were no jeers Thursday.

"It was like back to normal," Capriati said.

Peschke, a 28-year-old qualifier, served for the opening set at 5-4 but lost the game at love. She then lost her next service game as well when Capriati belted return winners on the final three points of the set.

Capriati swept the final three games of the match, closing out the victory when Peschke blew a backhand putaway.

Capriati hit more winners - 25 to 11 - but also had more unforced errors, 30 to 28. She faced 11 break points, but Peschke converted just two.

Less than halfway through the second round, Roddick found himself the lone remaining American in the men's draw. Then a Frenchman sent him home, too.

Indecisive and impatient on his worst surface, the second-seeded Roddick twice squandered leads Wednesday and lost to Frenchman Olivier Mutis 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

Roddick's record in the past three years on the Roland Garros clay fell to 1-3.

"It's a challenge for me," he said. "That's no secret. But I'm going to keep plugging away. That's all I can do."

The French Open has long brought out the worst in U.S. men, including Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, none of whom won the tournament. The 10 American men entered this year went 2-10, including a first-round loss by 1999 champion Andre Agassi.

Five defeats came against Frenchmen, with No. 27 Vince Spadea eliminated 21/2 hours before Roddick, losing to qualifier Julien Jeanpierre 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.

"This hasn't been our place for a couple of years now," Roddick said. "That's just the challenge. You try to right the ship."

In the Open era, the only other major events where no U.S. men made it to the third round were the 1972 and 1973 Australian Opens, which no American entered.

AP-ES-05-27-04 0842EDT