Kuerten is confident he can take home his eight carer title

No fewer than 15 South Americans, all of whom thrive on the slow red clay, made it directly into the main draw for the Open, which started on Monday.

Kuerten, last year’s semi-finalist Fernando Meligeni and Andre Sa are the three Brazilians, while the direct entries also included two Chileans in Marcelo Rios and Nicolas Massu, Costa Rican Juan Antonio Marin, fast-rising Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador and no fewer than eight Argentines: Guillermo Canas, Juan Ignacio Chela, Gaston Gaudio, Hernan Gumy, Mariano Puerta, Martin Rodriguez, Franco Squillari and Mariano Zabaleta.

A futher three South Americans fought their way through the qualifying rounds, Argentine trio Agustin Calleri, Marcelo Charpentier and Guillermo Corria — and their compatriot Federico Browne made the draw as a lucky loser.

Apart from Kuerten, only two South American men have ever won at Roland Garros — the argentine Guillermo Vilas in 1977 and Andres Gomez of Ecuador in 1990. Gomez beat current champion Andre Agassi to win his title.

Vilas also made the final three times, as did Paraguyan power-server Victor Pecci in 1979. Going back over four decades, the Chilean Luis Ayala made the final in 1958 and 60.

Several of the current crop are among the title contenders.

Kuerten, the fifth seed, won here three years ago and underlined his current mood by winning the Hamburg Masters series title after being a finalist in Rome. He is confident he can win the eighth title of his career here.

Lapentti, seeded 11, is always a threat on clay and has reached the semi-finals in Estoril and the quarter-finals in Barcelona on the surface this year.

Former World No 1 Rios is an infuriating character, brilliant one day, lacklustre the next. On his day, on clay, he is a match for anyone and he has made the quarter-finals here each of the last two years.

Gaudio, Chela, Squillari, Zabaleta and Puerta are all Argentines of immense promise under the age of 23.

Gaudio was a semi-finalist at Monte Carlo this year, Chela was the winner in Mexico City as a qualifier and Squillari triumphed in Munich. Left-hander Puerta, just 21, has the best clay court record of any player this season.

With 25 wins and only seven losses on the surface in 2000 — including the title in Bogota — he is one of five Argentines currently in the top 50 of the champions race.