PARIS, 31 May 2004 — Tim Henman thrust a dagger deep into French hearts yesterday, 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 claycourt tennis and Henman’s win lifted him into his first grand slam quarterfinal outside of Wimbledon.

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 yesterday played a sublime match to line up a showdown with Russia’s Elena Dementieva.

Ninth seed Dementieva pummeled former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport 6-1, 6-3. Women’s second seed Serena Williams advanced in straight forward fashion.

Wearing a pink zip-up cropped-top, the American pulverized 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.

The star of a blustery and damp day was undoubtedly Henman, though.

The Briton, whose artful style of play is seen as something of an anachronism in these days of baseline bludgeoners, had recovered from two sets down for only the second time in his career in his first-round match earlier this week. He has clearly got a taste for it and yesterday saved a match point against Llodra before claiming victory on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The 29-year-old sealed victory after four hours 11 minutes with a whipped forehand down the line to move to within three wins of his first grand slam triumph on a surface he detests.

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.