Heavy rain no problem for Kuznetsova

PARIS: Torrential rain washed away top seed Maria Sharapova's much-anticipated French Open bow yesterday as Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova sailed into the second round.

Play on the third day of the tournament was delayed by almost three hours as Roland Garros was swamped by a deluge, which resulted in 20 of the day's scheduled 72 ties being put back to Wednesday.

Sadly for the wet and cold crowd, one of those was Sharapova's match-up against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina.

Fourth seed Kuznetsova, the 2006 runner-up to the now-retired Justine Henin, saw off Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-2, 6-3 and will face either America's Vania King or French wildcard Violette Huck for a place in the last 32.

The 22-year-old from St. Petersburg, a former US Open champion, took just over an hour to see off world 71 Nakamura.

On Monday, Roger Federer cruised into the French Open second round while rival and triple champion Rafael Nadal was left kicking his heels in the locker room as the rain came down.

The world No 1 then had the unexpected bonus of seeing potential quarterfinal dangerman Richard Gasquet pull out of the tournament because of a knee injury.

Top seed Federer, still missing a Roland Garros title from his collection of 12 Grand Slam trophies, saw off America's world No 40 Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and will now face either Spain's Albert Montanes or close friend Kristof Vliegen of Belgium for a place in the last 32.

"This was a potentially dangerous match so I'm happy to get through," said Federer whose run-up to Roland Garros featured defeats against Nadal in the Monte Carlo and Hamburg finals.

"I've played well all claycourt season long. Now it's just a matter of getting used to the conditions."

Frustratingly for Nadal, the heavy rain arrived just as he was preparing to come on court to tackle Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci.

Nadal is hoping to make history by joining Bjorn Borg as the only four-in-a-row winner of the men's title.

The second seeded Spaniard comes into Roland Garros boasting a perfect record of 21 wins in 21 matches here and an intimidating run of 108 wins in 110 clay-court outings since April 2005.

He has also defeated Federer in the last two finals.

Gasquet's injury was another devastating blow to home hopes, 25 years after Yannick Noah delivered the country's last men's title.

The 25-year-old's decision to quit just hours before he was due to face compatriot Florent Serra in the first round follows Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's withdrawal at the weekend also because of a knee injury.

AFP

(China Daily 05/28/2008 page24)