Old guard stands tall, teen brigade already has-been8217;

Experience has proved far more of a weapon on the slow red clay of Roland Garros than youthful enthusiasm.

While 18-year-old top seed Martina Hingis has made the last eight without any difficulty, she is a relative veteran with five Grand Slam titles.

The Williams sisters, Mauresmo and Kournikova have yet to win a Grand Slam and the latter two haven8217;t won a tournament of any description. Instead, tomorrow8217;s quarter-finals will have a largely familiar look about them.

Five-time champion Steffi Graf and three-time winners Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Monica Seles are all there, along with Spaniard Conchita Martinez, who has been competing at the top for over a decade.

The field is rounded out by second-seeded American Lindsay Davenport, 22, and Austrian pair Barbara Schwartz, 20, andSylvia Plischke, 21. But Hingis is the only teen.

Serena and Venus Williams were both beaten by older, wiser and less cocky opponents while Graf accounted for Kournikova.

Mauresmo, in contrast, was unlucky to run into Hingis in the second round.

Graf, who needed to fight hard to beat Kournikova, said it is getting harder all the time for the old guard.

8220;You can see that the young players are playing with more aggression and are in much better shape than the players used to be,8221; Graf said.

8220;It gets harder much earlier in the tournaments now. May be, we still don8217;t have as much depth as the men, but we are getting that way quickly.8221;

That is a theme echoed by experienced American Mary Joe Fernandez, who beat Serena Williams. 8220;A lot of the players are bigger and stronger and a lot quicker than they used to be. It is definitely getting harder.8221;

8220;It isn8217;t a sure thing that you are going to win your first couple of rounds like it used to be. You come up against great athletes right off thestart,8221; Fernandez said.

Being a great athlete doesn8217;t necessarily translate to success in tennis. The Williams sisters and Mauresmo are among the most powerful players in the game and have yet to make the Slam breakthrough.

Hingis, though, says she knows the key on clay. 8220;You just have to be patient, patient, patient,8221; she said. 8220;That8217;s not always easy. You don8217;t have to go for great shots, you just have to keep the ball in the game.8221;

8220;That8217;s why Arantxa is so dangerous here. Arantxa just runs forever, just hits the ball back. Doesn8217;t do anything special,8221; she added.

Kournikova cuts through the hype about the youth revolution. 8220;I don8217;t feel there should be so much concentration on age,8221; she said. 8220;We are all equal out there. Whoever wins is just better.8221;