Serena, Nadal reach 3rd round at French Open

PARIS – Serena Williams waited a day to play, then won before lunch Friday at the French Open.
Rafael Nadal also went to work early and clocked out quickly.

With almost mistake-free tennis, the top-ranked Williams won nine consecutive games and advanced to the third round by beating Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1.

Four-time champion Nadal lost serve only once and beat Horacio Zeballos 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

A schedule backlog caused by rain forced Nadal and Williams to wait until the sixth day of the tournament for their second-round matches. They took the court on a sunny, cool morning and engaged in brisk workouts.

Williams won in 55 minutes. Nadal took 1 hour, 45 minutes and has lost only 13 games through two rounds.

Despite playing aggressively, Williams committed only four unforced errors to 20 for Goerges. Williams often moved two steps inside the baseline to smack returns, and she won 15 of 19 points on Goerges' weak second serves.

Williams held every service game and sprinted forward several times to finish off points with swinging volleys.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion has won 41 consecutive second-round matches in major tournaments since losing in that round in her Grand Slam debut in 1998 to her sister Venus. She's bidding for her first French Open title since 2002.

Nadal won with steady play from the baseline, committing only 12 unforced errors, and he also won 16 points at the net.

Seeded second, Nadal improved to 33-1 at Roland Garros, with his lone loss a fourth-round upset against Robin Soderling in 2009. He is 17-0 on clay this year.

Another Spaniard, No. 9 David Ferrer, led 6-2, 6-2, 2-0 when Xavier Malisse retired.

In women's play, Russian qualifier Anastasia Pivovarova, ranked 187th, upset No. 25-seeded Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 6-3. Unseeded American Jill Craybas lost to No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-1.

Andy Murray's second-round match took two days to complete and was interrupted again after resuming Thursday, but he was pleased to beat the darkness and Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

"Rain delays — I've not really had many in my career," Murray said. "It was a good experience for me, one I could have dealt with maybe a little bit better."

His match was suspended Wednesday night at 3-all in the second set and, following a 4 1/2-hour delay before play began Thursday, Murray started slowly. He found himself down a break in the third set before rallying.

"I just felt a little bit tense at the start," he said. "Then I actually felt fine as soon as I went behind. That's a bit strange, but that's how it was. I started to play a lot better as soon as I got broken in the third set."

Rain made a mess of the schedule Thursday, but the only significant upset was No. 13 Gael Monfils' 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 loss to Fabio Fognini. The match had been suspended because of darkness Wednesday at 5-all in the fifth set.

Three seeded women lost: No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 21 Vera Zvonareva and No. 32 Kateryna Bondarenko.

Ana Ivanovic hit another low in her slide since winning the French Open two years ago, losing in the second round to No. 28 Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-0.

Eighteen singles matches were postponed, and five were suspended because of darkness.

No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick endured two delays and difficult conditions to defeat Blaz Kavcic 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. The damp weather took some zip off Roddick's biggest weapon, and for much of the match he was dueling from the baseline on his worst surface.

"It was brutal for me out there," he said. "I couldn't get my serve to go anywhere, and the ball was just sitting up. It kind of takes away a lot of shots and it makes it just about hitting the ball and running.

"I don't know the last time I lost serve seven times and won. So, I mean, it's bad, but there's got to be something good in there somewhere, too."