Top seed Sharapova in great escape

PARIS: Maria Sharapova narrowly avoided becoming the first women's top seed in French Open history to lose in the opening round yestrday.

The Russian served up an ugly 17 double faults and toiled for two and a half hours before squeezing past teenage compatriot, and world No 104, Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6.

Sharapova, who needs a French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, twice had to serve to stay in the match as she struggled to tame both her opponent and the vicious, swirling wind that replaced Tuesday's rain deluge.

"I just hung in there. It was far from my best tennis but you just learn from your mistakes. I was very close to losing this match," said Sharapova, semi-finalist in 2007.

"Not many things were working for me today after that first set."

Sharapova will take on American qualifier Bethanie Mattek for a place in the last 32.

Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion and 23rd seed, was a first-round casualty when he pulled out injured against Brazil's Marcos Daniel.

The Spaniard, who had never lost his opener in his eight previous visits, won the first set 7-6 (5) and was 2-2 in the second when he called it quits with a thigh injury.

Daniel, the world 79, will take on Austria's Jurgen Melzer for a place in the last 32.

Australia's 25th seed Lleyton Hewitt showed no signs of his recent hip injury when he brushed aside France's Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the second round.

The 27-year-old skipped the entire European clay-court season to recover from the injury, which kept him sidelined since the Davis Cup win over Thailand six weeks ago.

"The hip is still not 100 percent. There's a little bit of pain there and some discomfort but I just have to play through it and see how far it takes me," said Hewitt.

The former world No 1, playing Roland Garros for the ninth time, will face America's Mardy Fish for a place in the last 32 after his win over Agustin Calleri of Argentina.

Also safely through was Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer who enjoyed a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Belgium's Steve Darcis and will take on French veteran Fabrice Santoro for a place in the last 32.

In the women's draw, Russian seventh seed Elena Dementieva beat compatriot Vera Dushevina 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-2 and goes on to face Poland's Marta Domachowska.

Later yesterday, defending champion Rafael Nadal, bidding to join Bjorn Borg as a four-in-a-row champion, resumes his first-round match with Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci which was 1-1 when play was suspended on Tuesday.

With organizers squeezing 74 matches into the program to make up for the backlog caused by the previous day's downpours, men's third seed Novak Djokovic was due to play his second-round match against Spanish qualifier Miguel-Angel Lopez Jaen.

Fellow Serb, women's second seen Ana Ivanovic, the runner-up to the now retired Justine Henin in 2007, faces Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Fifth seed Serena Williams, the 2002 champion, faces France's Mathilde Johansson for a place in the last 32.

Amelie Mauresmo was the unexpected provider of a much-needed boost for the home crowd as rain again decimated the French Open program on Tuesday.

The former world No 1 was one of only 13 winners as rain sliced more than seven hours off the day's play with the final interruption coming.

France's hopes of its first men's winner since Yannick Noah's victory 25 years ago took a big hit this week with the withdrawals of Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

So it fell to Mauresmo, for so long predicted a champion in Paris only to let her adoring fans down time and again, to lift the flagging spirits at a sodden Roland Garros.

A slide down the world standings means she is now ranked 29th and Mauresmo, who has been suffering with an abdominal injury, again showed glimpses of the mental frailty that has haunted her previous tilts at her home Grand Slam.

The former Wimbledon and Australian Open champion pulled herself together after a three-hour rain break to beat Ukraine's Olga Savchuk 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the first round, punching the air at her moment of triumph.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/29/2008 page20)