Title-holder Albert Costa, tournament favourites Juan Carlos Fererro and Carlos Moya, Lleyton Hewitt's conquerer Tommy Robredo and Hamburg Masters winner Felix Mantilla all went through.

They now form a formidable wall of claycourt expertise that second-seed Andre Agassi will have to knock down if he is to win his second crown in Paris and make it halfway to a clean sweep of the 2003 Grand Slams.

And with only Ferrero and Mantilla drawn against each other, there could be four Spaniards in the quarterfinals.

Their great Argentine rivals have fared less well with only fancied seventh-seed Guillermo Coria and Mariano Zabaleta sure of their places. And they will play each other for a place in the last eight.

Argentina's other remaining representative Gaston Gaudio is locked in a third round battle with Gustavo Kuerten which was held over after the light faded with the Brazilian two sets ahead.

In contrast Agassi is the sole American survivor and bantamweight Arnaud Clement is alone to carry the French flag into the second week.

Two unseeded players have made it through - giant Dutchman Martin Verkerk and Brazilian newcomer Flavio Saretta who may be joined later by his compatriot and three-times former winner Kuerten.

Pick of the fourth round matches looks like being a centre court showdown between marathon man Costa of Spain and battling Clement of France.

Costa has drawn on huge taps of energy to get this far winning three five-setters and coming back from two sets down in two of them.

"I don't know how I managed to get out of that one," said Costa after his knee-buckling 4hrs 39mins win over Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in the third round.

"Clement will be another tough nut to crack but I am relaxed about that one," said the 27-year-old from Lerida, who came to Paris not having won a tournament since his final win over compatriot Ferrero here 12 months ago.

Clement, all bandanas and designer shades, has become the new hero of the French public following the second round demise of Sebastien Grosjean.

The French are desparate to see a first home win in this tournament since Yannick Noah's emotional triumph 20 years ago when he beat Mats Wilander in the final.

In the last 16 for the first time, Clement insists the pressure is not on him.

"For me it's not relevant that I'm the last French player or not. It's just a tennis match. Even if I'm the last Frenchman or there are 10 other Frenchmen, it doesn't change anything for my match."

Agassi, the highest seed left, looks to have a clear run into the quarter-finals as he goes up againt Saretta who is untested at this level and made it through when third round opponent Galo Blanco was forced to abandon.