Venus, Jankovic secure wins
PARIS — Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic reached the third round at the French Open today, one easing through her match and the other playing through pain.
The eighth-seeded Williams used a six-game run to beat 241st-ranked qualifier Selima Sfar of Tunisia 6-2, 6-4. Jankovic, seeded third and a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year, was bothered by her right arm but defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Jankovic called for a trainer after holding to lead 3-2 in the second set.
"It started gradually, little by little," the 23-year-old Serb told the trainer after grimacing through a massage. "It's humid, and the balls are big and heavy. We're not used to it."
Jankovic refused to get a bandage on her arm.
"I don't want tape because I cannot play with tape. Just massage it," Jankovic said. "I prefer to play with the pain."
Jankovic broke in the next game to take a 4-2 lead, but Erakovic broke back to 4-3 and held to 4-4. At 5-all, the pair again traded breaks, and the New Zealander led 5-3 in the tiebreaker but Jankovic won the final four points to advance.
Williams trailed 2-1 after being broken early in the first set, but she didn't drop another game until leading 1-0 in the second set. The American made 16 more unforced errors than Sfar, but made up for that with strong play at the net. Williams won the point on 24 of her 35 trips forward.
Later Thursday, top-seeded Roger Federer and three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal were scheduled to play in the second round.
With the light fading on center court Wednesday and Serena Williams facing the possibility of heading into a third set at the French Open, the eight-time Grand Slam champion started to get a little peeved.
She quickly took care of that problem.
"I didn't want to go three sets today," said Williams, who won the last four games to beat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 7-5 in the second round at Roland Garros.
"I'm tired of playing so late and in the dark, and I was like, 'OK, I'm going to close it out before then,"' she added.
Joining Williams in the third round on Day 4 of the French Open was second-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who beat Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-2.
In the men's draw, James Blake's French Open is over.
The No. 7-seeded Blake, the top U.S. man in the tournament, lost in the second round at Roland Garros defeated by Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
"I wasn't going for the shots the way I normally do," Blake said.
Gulbis is a 19-year-old who is 80th in the rankings and entered the French Open with a 7-10 record this season. He hadn't won a tiebreaker this year, going 0-6, until taking the first set against Blake.
