Tennis French Open Roland Garros Day Two: It was a day in Paris when the wind asked more questions of the top seeds than their opponents did. To the delight of the organisers, the marquee names answered correctly. The status quo was preserved and there were no heavy tumbles from the protected positions, writes Johnny Watterson at Roland Garros
Kim Clijsters' gymnastic floor routine against French hope Virginie Razzano again illustrated just why the second seed has been twice in the finals here, in 2001 and 2003. Whether it required the drama of sliding into the splits position to retrieve a backhand among the red-potted plants on top of the perimeter court advertising, or racing for a deep forehand that most other players would have given up for dead, Clijsters' willingness shone through. No muscle, no cartilage, no tendon was spared its hyper-extended workout.
At one point in the third game a defensive return from the Belgian set up Razzano at the net for a simple put-away volley. The 23-year-old duly placed the ball into the corner of the backcourt only to watch in astonishment as the Belgian chased it down on her backhand side and returned from well behind her body, a flex of her wrist enough to direct the ball up the tramlines for a winner.
While Clijsters' relentlessness can so easily bruise opposition confidence so, too, can her tendency to drift out of matches and invite opponents back in generate occasional consternation. What looked like a furious dusting down of a player ranked 66 places below her, evolved into a struggle to retrieve the second set from 3-0 down, having savaged Razzano in the first 6-0 in just 22 minutes.
The oxygen of collecting three quick games visibly stiffened Razzano's determination to make a match of it and Clijsters was made to work more industriously than anyone had anticipated. The zephyrs sweeping across the court, raising red swirls of court powder, certainly curtailed the 22-year-old, who up until a few months ago was ranked as the world number one.
"The wind today, I mean it just blew all the clay off the court," said Clijsters afterwards. "There was empty spots, you saw the concrete, I think, under the clay surface. Today it was almost like playing on a hard court because of the wind."
Razzano simply didn't have enough muscle in her game to crush Clijsters beyond repair. A little wounded, the Belgian fought back to 5-5 and when Razzano further detained her by taking a 6-5 lead, a bounce of her racquet on the ground as she headed for her chair suggested that irritation was giving way to belligerence.
Finally a tiebreak settled the issue and a forehand into the net by Razzano finally closed a match Clijsters was finding increasingly difficult.
"I didn't think about the wind at all in the first set," she added. "I just played my game, hitting my balls like I usually do. The second set . . . I made some unforced errors, missed a couple of shots because of the wind and then you just know in your mind that you're a little bit worried."
A two-set win in the first round is as much as any of the seeds could ask for. As Clijsters was busying herself signing autographs, the older half of the Williams act, Venus, was roughing it on the second biggest court at Roland Garros, Suzanne Lenglen.
A sign of the times, perhaps, but compatriot Lindsay Davenport is now the only American player ranked in the world's top 10 and due to injury she is not in the competition. Williams, ranked 13, is the USA's lone hope as there are only three American women in the world top 50. As a picture of how the game has geographically shifted, Russia now has 10 players in the top 50, or 20 per cent of the draw.
Ending the tournament for 26-year-old Sybille Bammer was never as much a formality as it seemed for Williams, given the fact she has something of a rap sheet in Paris. In 2005 and playing as the 11th seed, Williams departed in the third round to 98th-ranked Sesil Karatantcheva. This is also just her fourth event of 2006 following her first-round exit from the Australian Open in January.
But after the standard mixed start and adjustment to the surface and the conditions, the American took the match, 6-4, 6-3, in an hour and nine minutes.
It was difficult to see just how close Williams is to her best. She reached the semi-final of the recent Rome tournament before falling to eventual champion Martina Hingis, who this season is going to try and do what so many before her have failed to do - come back to the top of the game after a three-year break.
In fact, the way the draw unfolds, the two former world number ones could meet at the quarter-final stage.
Mens Singles (first round): A Falla (Col) bt J Gimelstob (USA) 6-4 6-4 6-2, M Mirnyi (Blr) bt G Muller (Lux) 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-3), (32) N Massu (Chi) bt X Malisse (Bel) 6-1 7-5 1-6 4-6 9-7, (20) T Berdych (Cze) bt F Lopez (Spa) 6-2 6-4 6-3, F Volandri (Ita) bt K Pless (Den) 6-4 7-6 (7-0) 6-4, M Gicquel (Fra) bt A Di Mauro (Ita) 7-5 7-6 (8-6) 6-3, (13) N Kiefer (Ger) bt J Melzer (Aut) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1, (12) M Ancic (Cro) bt N Healey (Aus) 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-1, P Capdeville (Chi) bt G Rusedski (Gbr) 6-3 6-1 4-6 7-6 (9-7), S Galvani (Ita) bt F Mayer (Ger) 4-6 6-0 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 7-5, A Montanes (Spa) leads (17) R Ginepri (USA) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 3-0, (26) J Acasuso (Arg) bt F Santoro (Fra) 6-3 6-1 3-6 1-6 11-9, L Dlouhy (Cze) bt K Vliegen (Bel) 4-6 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, I Bozoljac (Ser) bt B Pashanski (Ser) 6-4 6-3 6-4, R Gasquet (Fra) bt Y-T Wang (Tpe) 6-4 6-1 7-5, (31) D Tursunov (Rus) bt J Novak (Cze) 6-2 6-3 6-2, (21) SGrosjean (Fra) bt A Pavel (Rom) 6-3 6-2 6-3, M Vassalo Arguello (Ita) bt P Goldstein (USA) 6-2 6-0 6-3, N Lapentti (Ecu) bt W Moodie (Rsa) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (5-7) 6-2, R Sluiter (Ned) bt (16) J Nieminen (Fin) 6-2 7-6 (8-6) 2-1, (10) G Gaudio (Arg) bt R Karanusic (Cro) 6-2 6-2 6-2, E Korolev (Rus) bt A Seppi (Ita) 6-4 2-6 3-6 7-5 6-1, P Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt OMarach (Aut) 6-3 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-2, (24) J Carlos Ferrero (Spa) bt J M Del Potro (Arg) 6-3 2-6 6-2 6-4, M Youzhny (Rus) bt S Tuksar (Cro) 6-3 6-3 3-6 6-0, F Saretta (Bra) bt P Starace (Ita) 6-7 (2-7) 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-1) 6-3, (6) N Davydenko (Rus) bt V Spadea (USA) 7-5 6-4 6-4, (11) R Stepanek (Cze) bt MLlodra (Fra) 6-4 6-4 6-2, (8) J Blake (USA) bt P Srichaphan (Tha) 6-0 6-4 7-6, N Almagro (Spa) bt W Arthurs (Aus) 7-5 6-2 6-2, K Kim (USA) bt J Silva (Bra) 7-5 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-3), (2) R Nadal (Spa) bt R Soderling (Swe) 6-2 7-5 6-1
Women's Singles (first round): V Dushevina (Rus) bt A Rodionova (Rus) 6-3 6-2, J Jankovic (Ser) bt L Pous Tio (Spa) 7-5 6-4, A Rezai (Fra) bt A Brianti (Ita) 6-4 7-6 (7-1), T T Sun (Chn) bt E Bychkova (Rus) 6-2 7-5, (16) N Vaidisova (Cze) bt M Domachowska (Pol) 6-1 6-3, (11) V Williams (USA) bt S Bammer (Aut) 6-4 6-3, E Laine (Fin) bt Y Fedossova (Fra) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-2, S Peng (Chn) bt E Vesnina (Rus) 6-2 6-2, K Sprem (Cro) bt (18) E Likhovtseva (Rus) 6-1 6-1, (29) S Arvidsson (Swe) bt M Vento-Kabchi (Ven) 6-4 6-2, J Vakulenko (Ukr) bt M Yuan (Chn) 6-1 6-2, J Gajdosova (Svk) bt S Cohen Aloro (Fra) 6-2 5-7 6-3, (7) P Schnyder (Swi) bt M Krajicek (Ned) 6-1 6-2, A Molik (Aus) bt A Serra-Zanetti (Ita) 7-5 7-6 (7-3), A Perianu (Rom) bt (28) L Safarova (Cze) 6-1 7-6 (9-7), (24) K Srebotnik (Slo) bt A Smashnova-Pistolesi (Isr) 6-4 4-6 6-2, A Harkleroad (USA) bt J Kostanic (Cro) 7-5 2-6 7-5, H Sromova (Cze) bt R Vinci (Ita) 6-1 7-5, (9) F Schiavone (Ita) bt A Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3 6-4, M Muller (Ger) bt N Vierin (Ita) 4-6 6-4 3-0 ret, K Flipkens (Bel) bt V Pichet (Fra) 6-3 6-2, (17) F Pennetta (Ita) bt B Mattek (USA) 6-3 6-1, (27) A Chakvetadze (Rus) bt E Birnerova (Cze) 7-5 6-4, N Li (Chn) bt A Frazier (USA) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-1, M Santangelo (Ita) bt A Parra Santonja (Spa) 6-4 6-1, (8) S Kuznetsova (Rus) bt L Granville (USA) 6-4 6-0, (6) E Dementieva (Rus) bt M Sucha (Svk) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, V Kutuzova (Ukr) bt V King (USA) 7-6 (13-11) 6-2, C Castano (Col) bt A Nakamura (Jpn) 4-6 6-3 6-1, (21) N Dechy (Fra) bt S Foretz (Fra) 6-2 3-6 6-3, C Martinez-Granados (Spa) bt M Diaz-Oliva (Arg) 6-4 3-6 6-1, (2) K Clijsters (Bel) bt V Razzano (Fra) 6-0 7-6 (7-4) .
