PARIS, May 30: Tim Henman thrust a dagger deep into French hearts on Sunday, battling his way back from a two-set deficit to beat Parisian Michael Llodra and reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time.

The 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 9-7 victory by the ninth seed proved beyond doubt Henman's mettle at the French Open, where in the past he has come unstuck. Not since Roger Taylor in 1973 had a Briton advanced this far in the heartland of clay court tennis and Henman's win lifted him into his first Grand Slam quarterfinal outside of Wimbledon.

Henman's feat in reaching the last-eight matches the achievement of his grandfather Henry Billington, who reached the same stage here in 1939. The gloom for French fans deepened when Nicolas Escude pulled out of his match against third seed Guillermo Coria with an injured shoulder having lost the opening set 6-0.

France's Olivier Mutis had already been beaten 4-6, 6-2, 7-6, 6-2 by Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine Henman plays next. However, women's third seed Amelie Mauresmo provided some much-needed cheer for home fans.

The Frenchwoman smashed Magdalena Maleeva 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals here for the second successive year. Mauresmo has suffered from crippling nerves at her home Grand Slam in the past but on Sunday played a sublime match to line up a showdown with Russia's Elena Dementieva.

Ninth seed Dementieva pummelled former world number one Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 6-3. Women's second seed Serena Williams advanced in straight forward fashion. The American pulverised Shinobu Asagoe 6-3, 6-1 to edge closer to a semifinal clash with her elder sister Venus. The fourth seed overcame Fabiola Zuluaga 6-1, 7-6.

While Henman advanced the hard way, Coria could hardly have had an easier passage. The Argentine, the highest seed left in the men's tournament following the early exits of defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and American Andy Roddick, clinched the first set against Escude in 25 minutes before his opponent quit.

Coria, a semifinalist last year, will next meet the winner of the fourth-round match between Spaniards Carlos Moya and Tommy Robredo. Like Coria, Mauresmo also had it easy. Her victory over 21st seed Maleeva was her easiest of the tournament and allowed her to equal her best performance at Roland Garros.

Dementieva was joined in the last eight by two other Russians, Maria Sharapova and Anastasia Myskina. Sharapova has yet to drop a set in the tournament and she swept aside Marlene Weingaertner 6-3, 6-1 while Myskina beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-4, 8-6.

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday put an end to Martin Verkerk's love affair with Paris, ousting the unexpected 2003 finalist in an erratic match 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Seeded 12th, the Australian former US Open champion now meets Malisse. Roland Garros nearly lost another crowd favourite in Marat Safin, who saved two match points in the fourth set before finishing off Italian qualifier Potito Starace 6-7, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

The Russian former world number one had spent four hours and 38 minutes on court to dismiss Felix Mantilla in a nailibiting second round match. This time, he needed 13 minutes less to survive another thriller on centre court and beat Starace, who had to be content with saving five match points and turning the crowd against the former US Open champion.

Safin, who was treated for blisters three times during the match and used all the tricks of the trade to disturb his opponent, goes on to meet eighth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian.

The former Wimbledon finalist became the fourth Argentine to reach the round of 16 when he beat Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 7-5.

Sunday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):