May 26th, 2008
Paris, France
Day 2 of the 2008 Roland Garros was going smoothly for the first half of the day before rain finally came and washed out matches and stopped play altogether. Some of the matches to be completed though did feature the day's biggest names, Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic.
Starting with Venus Williams who is the Number 8 seed in this years Roland Garros, playing second on Court Phillipe-Chatrier, Williams had a rough start to her day, not playing as well as she would have liked. Williams of course has only played one event this year on the red clay before Roland Garros and that was 2 weeks ago in Rome where she lost in the Quarter-Finals. Williams won the first set, 6-3. And was looking good in the second when her play dropped and her opponent, Tzipora Obziler began to be more consistent and go for her shots. Obziler won the second set 6-4. Venus, like many champions in the past had to dig deep to produce the win, which she did in the third set, winning 6-2. She will hope to raise the level of her play in the next coming days as she tries to prepare herself for a possible Quarter-Final meeting with Jelena Jankovic, who seems to have her number on the clay courts.
Speaking of Jankovic, the 3rd seed here, she also got off to a patchy start today on Court Suzanne Lenglen. The young Serbian who reached the Semi-Finals here last year is looking to improve on her showing and started off today against, Monica Niculescu of Romania. The first set was constantly back and forth, break after break, but finally in the end, Jankovic upped her game and won the tiebreak 7-3. The second set was all Jankovic as she steadied her game and took control, eventually winning, 6-2.
On other courts, Patty Schynder, a Round of 16 showing last year is always considered dangerous, especially on the clay. She easily won her first round match today and is looking forward to meeting possibly Serena Williams in the Round of 16 this year. Emilie Loit, had a tough start to her French Open campaign as she lost the first set, 6-1, but rebounded and took the next two and the match, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6.
If the rain permits play tomorrow, players to watch out for will include, Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Amelie Mauresmo and Marion Bartoli.
Results:
Court Phillipe-Chatrier
(8)Venus Williams d. Tzipora Obziler - 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Court Suzanne Lenglen
(3)Jelena Jankovic d. Monica Niculescu - 7-6(3), 6-2
Court 1
Jelena Pandzic d. Severine Bremond - 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Court 2
(10)Patty Schynder d. Ekaterina Bychkova - 6-3, 6-4
Top 10 Seeds:
1. Maria Sharapova - Round 1
2. Ana Ivanovic - Round 2
3. Jelena Jankovic - Round 2
4. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Round 1
5. Serena Williams - Round 2
6. Anna Chakvetadze - Round 1
7. Elena Dementieva - Round 1
8. Venus Williams - Round 2
9. Marion Bartoli - Round 1
10. Patty Schynder - Round 2
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