[1]Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin set up a third-round showdown at the French Open on Friday, winning their matches suspended overnight because of darkness.
Sharapova finished off Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium 6-3, 6-3, and four-time champion Henin beat Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3. A schedule backlog c
aused by rain created a parade of champions on the sixth day of the tournament. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Venus and Serena Williams were among those who advanced.
Now the champions start playing each other. Henin has a 6-3 record against Sharapova.
Venus Williams reached the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2006 by beating No. 26 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4. Once again wearing the lacy corset that has created the tournament’s biggest buzz, Williams hit six aces and lost only four points on her first serve.
Serena and Venus are seeded 1-2 and wouldn’t meet until the final. Serena Williams and Nadal took the court on a sunny, cool morning and engaged in brisk workouts.
The top-ranked Williams won nine consecutive games and advanced to the third round by beating Julia Goerges of Germany 6-1, 6-1. Four-time champion Nadal lost serve only once and beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
Nadal has lost only 13 games through two rounds and next faces two-time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt, who outlasted Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Hewitt improved to 30-14 in five-set matches.
The top-ranked Federer reached the fourth round by beating qualifier Julian Reister of Germany 6-4, 6-0, 6-4. Federer never faced a break point and lost only five points on his first serve.
Andy Murray reached the fourth round by defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.
The fourth-seeded Murray will next play No. 15 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who eliminated No. 17 John Isner of the United States 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
Novak Djokovic, a two-time semifinalist, overcame nine double-faults for a second-round win over Kei Nishikori of Japan, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. No. 9 David Ferrer, led 6-2, 6-2, 2-0 when Xavier Malisse retired with a left hamstring injury.
No. 19 Nicolas Almagro of Spain, No. 22 Jurgen Melzer of Austria and No. 31 Victor Hansecu of Romania also advanced. In another third round match, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Thiemo De Bakker 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Russian qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova, ranked 187th, upset No. 25-seeded Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 6-3. No. 13 Marion Bartoli and No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also won.
— Agencies
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Paes-Dlouhy in 2nd round
Paris: Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their title defence with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7(8), 7-5 win over Swede Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands in the opening round of the French Open men’s doubles event here. The third seed Indo-Czech pair had to toil for two hours and 16 minutes to see off the challenge of their unseeded rivals in the first round.
They will next take on winners of the first round match between the pairs of Philipp Marx/Igor Zelenay and Yves Allegro/Andreas Beck.
— PTI
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sp05294jpg-355