Verkerk makes presence felt.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Byline: Charles Bricker

PARIS _ Albert Costa, with three straight five-set wins, continues to be the most powerful emotional influence in the men's tournament.

But no one in the first seven days here has had a more imposing physical presence than Martin Verkerk, a 200-pound, late-blooming Dutchman with a monster backhand and serve, and a perpetually pumping fist.

Unseeded but no longer underestimated, Verkerk on Sunday slammed 22 aces and survived the only two breaks he yielded, in the final set, for a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 win over Australian Open runner-up Rainer Schuettler. That win set up a majestic fourth-round battle with Carlos Moya of Spain.

"This is amazing," Verkerk remarked after a shower, a meal and a chance to drink in the importance of his first-week run. "On match point, I was once again like, `OK, you hit in practice always aces, so this game you have to hit your big shot.""

Voila! He snapped off the final game with four aces, winning at 40-15.

That took Verkerk, the only unseeded player into the quarters, against No. 4 Moya, who defeated 13th-seeded Jiri Novak 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Second-seeded Andre Agassi dispatched unseeded Flavio Saretta 6-2, 6-1, 7-5 to give him victories in nine straight sets. And three-time French champion Gustavo Kuerten, the No. 15 seed, in a match suspended by darkness Saturday, finished off Gaston Gaudio 7-6 (1), 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.