Nadal, Ivanovic cruise past rivals

PARIS - Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic made light work of their opponents as the sun made a welcome return to the French Open on Wednesday but high winds and a grand slam debutante almost blew out top seed Maria Sharapova.

Nadal could hardly be any more at home on Court Philippe Chatrier if he wore carpet slippers, and the three-time defending champion barely broke sweat after a tight first set in his rain-interrupted match with Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.

Held over at 1-1 in the first set after Tuesday's downpours, the Spaniard dashed past the South American qualifier 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 and awaits more eager prey in round two in the shape of France's Nicolas Devilder.

"These were two difficult days," said Nadal, who took his perfect record at Roland Garros to 22-0.

"Because as time goes by you get more nervous and you can't practice, so I probably lost the rhythm I had acquired before this tournament. But I hope this won't be a problem for the rest of the tournament."

While Nadal reflects on his win, Sharapova will be wondering how she is not booking grass courts for extra practice ahead of Wimbledon.

The top seed was two points away from defeat against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina before prevailing 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 in two hours and 28 minutes of windswept, frustrating action on Center Court.

No women's top seed has bowed out at the first hurdle in Paris since the sport turned professional in 1968, and for spells it looked like Rodina, making her grand slam bow, and the blustery conditions would upend Sharapova, who hit a demoralizing 17 double faults.

"I just hung in there," said Sharapova, who could complete her career grand slam set in Paris next week.

"It was far from my best tennis today but you try to learn from your mistakes. Not many things were working for me today."

Unfortunately for former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero one of the things not working for him was his right leg.

The 2003 winner was 7-6, 2-2 up against Brazilian journeyman Marcos Daniel when he called it a day, making it the first time he had failed to pass the first round in Paris in nine attempts.

Novak Djokovic stole a march on his rivals by booking a place in round three at the expense of Spaniard Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen.

With Nadal completing his first-round win and Roger Federer learning that Spaniard Albert Montanes would be his second-round opponent, Australian Open champion Djokovic needed just 80 minutes to book his place in the last 32 with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win.

"I'm a perfectionist in life," said the third seed, who had toiled for four sets in his first-round match.

"I like everything to go the best possible way. I just played as much as I needed to play, so let's see how it goes in the third round."

Fellow Serb Ivanovic, the second seed, needed only 55 minutes to batter Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 and move into round three. Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki is next up for last year's runner-up.

Fifth seed Serena Williams, the only former champion in the women's draw, overcame France's Mathilde Johansson and a fervent home crowd 6-2, 7-5 and there was more misery for the French when ninth seed Marion Bartoli went down in three sets to Australia's Casey Dellacqua in the first round.

After three days of rain, Australian 25th seed and twice grand slam winner Lleyton Hewitt prospered with the sun on his back, sending another home hope crashing with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win over Nicolas Mahut.

Tomas Berdych, seeded No. 11, became the highest men's seed to fall so far when he tumbled out after five sets against France's Michael Llodra while Britain's 10th seed Andy Murray had an unexpectedly easy 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 win over clay specialist Jose Acasuso.

Marat Safin set up a mouthwatering last-64 clash with fellow Russian Nikolay Davydenko after coming from a set down to beat Monaco's Jean-Rene Lisnard.

"It's going to be an interesting match," said Safin, who won the last three sets for the loss of six games. "We're going to be nervous.