Although stung by his straight-sets loss, the 28-year-old redhead American vowed to keep on coming back to the scene of two of his greatest triumphs -- as long as he believed he had a real chance of tasting glory again.

Former world No 1 Courier reigned supreme here in 1991 and 1992, when he captured the first of his two Australian Open titles.

And a year later, he reached the final in Paris only to lose to Spain's Sergi Bruguera.

That form has been hard to rediscover this year and he has suffered a string of early exits on the tour -- most recently losing in the opening round in Rome to Felix Mantilla of Spain.

But `Big Jim' says nobody should start writing him off just yet, even if he is now set to slide out of the top 50. A former pupil of coaching guru Nick Bollettieri's Academy in his native Florida, the youngCourier was expected to spend much of his career in the shadow of the more flamboyant Andre Agassi, the Academy's star product.

Yet through sheer guts and determination, Courier battled his way to four Grand Slam singles titles one more than Agassi. Both men belong to an elite club of six players who have reached the final in all four Grand Slam events in the open era. Courier won his first tour singles title as a 19-year-old against Sweden's Stefan Edberg in Basel and over the past decade has never lost the desire to win.

But he insisted there was no reason to change his combative style which has seen him often likened to a baseball player slogging the life out of the ball.

``I'm a pretty old dog, you know. I've been playing the same way ever since I picked up a racket,'' he said.

He dismissed all talk of age starting to catch up with him, insisting that the reasons for his loss of form lay elsewhere.

``Since that East German doctor left my team, I've never been quite the same player,'' he laughedmischievously.

Courier will now take a short break before playing a grass exhibition tournament in Newport.

Early defeat has not dampened Courier's love of the French capital.``It's always great to be back here,'' he said, adding: ``This is, in many ways, were I was born on the tennis court,'' he said.

How the seeds fared
Men's singles (2nd round): Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) bt 1-Pete Sampras (US) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4
Women's singles (2nd round): 6-Monica Seles (US) bt Marion Maruska (Aut) 2-6, 6-1, 6-0; Magui Serna (Spa) bt 11-Mary Pierce (france) 7-5 6-2; 2-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Liezel Horn (SA) 6-2, 6-0; 15-Dominique Van Roost (Bel) bt Els Callens (Bel) 6-3, 6-0; 4-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spa) bt Catalina Cristea (Rom) 6-2, 6-3; 13-Anna Kournikova (Rus) bt Katarina Studenikova (Slovakia) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).
Men's singles: Todd Woodbridge (Aus) bt Guillaume Raoux (Fra) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Rep) bt Mark Philippoussis (Aus) 3-6, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5,6-4, 9-7; Jens Knippschild (Ger) bt Jim Courier (US) 6-4, 6-2, 6-3; Cedric Pioline (Fra) bt Julien Boutter (Fra) 7-5, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4; Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt Lucas Arnold (Arg) 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3; Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) bt Jeff Tarango (US) 6-0, 6-2, 6-2; Andrew Ilie (Australia) bt Mikael Tillstrom (Swe) 6-7 (9-11), 6-3, 6-3, 6-4; Christope Van Garsse (Bel) bt Scott Drapper (Aus) 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) bt Andrea Gaudenzi (Italy) 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.
Women's singles: Barbara Rittner (Ger) bt Naoko Sawamastu (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4; Barbara Schwartz (Aut) bt Miriam Oremans (Hol) 6-4, 6-2; Elena Tatarkova (Ukr) bt Kvetoslav Hrdlickova (Czech Rep) 6-4, 6-1; Anna Smashnova (Isr) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swi) 5-7, 6-0, 6-1; Karina Habsudova (Slo) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
Second roundRuxandra Dragomir (Rom) bt Flora Perfetti (Ita) 6-0, 6-2; Virginia Ruano-Pascual (Spa) bt Anne-Gaelle Sidot (Fra) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); Alexandra Fusai (Fra) bt TaraSnyder (US) 6-4, 6-3; Elena Likhovatseva (Rus) bt Cara Black (Zim) 7-5, 7-5; Miho Saeki (Jap) bt Laurence Andreto (Fra) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); Henrieta Nagyova (Slo) bt Sylvia Plischke (Aus) 6-4, 6-3; Chanda Rubin (US) bt Tatiana Panova (Rus) 6-1, 6-1; Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Ann Wunderlich (US) 6-1, 6-1.