Tennis: Jankovic, Del Potro advance to second round at French
CHRIS LEHOURITES
AP Sports Writer
PARIS — Jelena Jankovic dominated her opponent before a 2-hour rain delay Tuesday, and then did well enough after it to advance to the second round of the French Open by beating Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3.
The fifth-seeded Jankovic was leading 4-1 when the rain started at Roland Garros. She quickly closed out the first set when play resumed and continued to play well on Cetkovska's serve in the second but was broken twice on her own.
"I was controlling the points ... but then we had to stop because of the rain," Jankovic said. "I felt a little bit slow after the rain delay."
While serving for the match, Jankovic again struggled and was forced to save break points before finally winning.
"The serve was all right. I didn't go for too much," said Jankovic, who added the balls were heavier than usual because of the wet weather. "I just tried to have a high percentage."
Jankovic finished last season as the top-ranked player on the women's tour, but the 24-year-old Serb is still looking to win her first Grand Slam singles title after losing in the final of last year's U.S. Open.
Seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced, defeating Claire Feuerstein of France 6-1, 6-4. The 2004 U.S. Open champion also dominated before the rain started falling, leading 5-1.
Later Tuesday, second-seeded Serena Williams was scheduled to play on Court Suzanne Lenglen, while No. 4 Novak Djokovic was playing on center court from the men's draw.
Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina had little trouble in his first match at Roland Garros, beating Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. Del Potro won four straight ATP titles last year, the first two on clay.
No. 27 Rainer Schuettler of Germany narrowly avoided a "triple bagel" after being shut out in the first two sets of a 6-0, 6-0, 6-4 loss to Marc Gicquel of France.
On Friday, Schuettler lost to Robin Soderling 6-0, 6-0 at the ATP World Team Championship in Germany.
"A 'double bagel' is fine," said Schuettler, who reached the semifinals at last year's Wimbledon. "I had one last week. It's nothing new."
On Monday, Roger Federer was back on center court and standing in a pile of the same red clay on which he has lost the last three French Open finals. This time, however, he looked mighty comfortable.
The second-seeded Swiss easily advanced to the second round by beating Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, joining four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal.
"I didn't even think about last year's match on the same court, because I was so much concentrated," said Federer, who has 13 major titles to his name but none from the French Open. "I wanted to do my best. I didn't want to lose my first match."
Nadal broke the French Open men's record for consecutive wins by beating Marcos Daniel of Brazil 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 for his 29th straight win at Roland Garros.