American female tennis players have a way of winning on native soil. Australian and British girls don’t get many chances to wow the home crowd in Melbourne or suburban London. As for the females of France, the comforts of home just aren’t comfortable enough, and never seem to be sufficient on any day, in any time or season.

Hot or cold, sunny or overcast, dry or damp, it doesn’t matter: The ladies on the WTA Tour who know how to sing “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) just can’t perform when the French Open arrives. On Thursday at Roland Garros, a nation was once again plunged into a familiar realm of disappointment, as two seeded Frenchwomen put the “MAD” in “madmoiselle.”

In the day’s first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, 13th-seeded Marion Bartoli–the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up–was gently ushered out of Paris by Italy’s Tathiana Garbin, 6-3, 7-5. Later in the day on Court Suzanne Lenglen, France’s other seeded singles participant crashed out of the competition, as 21st-rated Alize Cornet bowed meekly to Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, 6-3 and 6-2. Just a few days after No. 16 Amelie Mauresmo made an inglorious exit from the tournament in round one, the pair of pathetic performances from Bartoli and Cornet only deepened the Gallic gloom that continues to haunt French tennis pros on the terre battue they know so well.

Both of these losses are enormously discouraging–not only for Bartoli and Cornet themselves, but for the French tennis federation, which had a right to expect a lot more from these players in light of past accomplishments. Bartoli soared to fame in her magical Wimbledon run of two years ago, but the woman with two-handed groundstrokes from both wings has not been able to back up that result with any convincing conquests. Bereft of so much as another slam semifinal showing in her last seven majors, Bartoli had an opening in this wide-open women’s field. This loss to Garbin suggests that a deep run at a future Grand Slam tournament isn’t about to emerge for Walter Bartoli’s daughter and pupil.

As bad as the Bartoli outlook must be, the already-cloudy skies of Paris–which never found a sunbreak in the early hours of Thursday afternoon–must feel even darker for Cornet. Four months ago at the Australian Open, Cornet had match points in the final set of her fourth-round match against Dinara Safina, only to let the Russian off the hook. Cornet lost that tension-fraught fistfight, and it seems that the 19-year-old–who had been steadily improving at slams–never emotionally recovered from the stomach-punch force of that stinging setback. A truly confident and invigorated player might not have toppled the 41st-ranked Cirstea–a solid competitor moving up the ranks of WTA professionals–but surely, Cornet could have done a lot better than to endure a listless 2-and-3 drubbing. With 24 unforced errors and only 16 winners against a not-too-powerful opponent, Cornet looked the part of a very young woman dealing with a crisis of confidence at this crucial juncture in her still-unfolding career. There’s plenty of time for Cornet to ripen into a complete player, but if this fragile Frenchwoman doesn’t regather her mind and her emotions, the looming specter of the Safina sob story in Australia (Cornet did indeed cry after losing that match) will continue to haunt her for years.

French tennis has had its moments of mirth and meaning in the past 15 years. Mary Pierce won a pair of Grand Slam titles and figured out a way to conquer Roland Garros. But unless or until this new generation of French professionals learns how to deal with the pressure of playing at home, more tears will be spilt on the terre battue of Paris.

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