Paris – So there was Venus Williams, on center court at the French Open on the final day of May, wearing a sweat shirt, her game as shaky as the weather was dismal.
Thanks to three rain delays totaling nearly two hours, Williams was forced to wait until after 8 p.m. to play her second- round match, and only a few hundred bundled-up spectators saw her fall behind 4-0 as the temperature dropped to 50 degrees.
Williams eventually turned things around in the fading light Wednesday night for a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Emma Laine, a woman who’s participated in fewer majors (three) than Williams has won (five).
“It’s nice to have moments of truth like that early on in the tournament,” said Williams, seeded No. 11. “I was able to really kind of focus back in, pull in the reins and really realize what I needed to do.”
The match was the perfect up-and-down conclusion to a day of stops and starts, when pretty much everyone complained about the Wimbledon-like weather – even winners such as Roger Federer, Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova.
Federer’s 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Alejandro Falla was held up twice by showers, for about 1 1/2 hours combined; on-court action lasted a mere 86 minutes.
“It’s not easy to come on and off” the court, Federer said. “You always hope your game is still there and it hasn’t left you.”
Fat chance for a player seeking to become the first man since 1969 to win four Grand Slam titles in a row. Federer finished with a 41-13 advantage in winners.
“I would like to win here,” said Federer, a champion at every other major at least twice but never past the semifinals in Paris. “The pressure is quite big.”
Sharapova didn’t show any apparent signs of the right ankle injury that bothered her in the first round, and moved on 6-4, 6-1 over Iveta Benesova.
“I didn’t feel like I was moving great still, being cautious with the tape on,” Sharapova said, “but painwise it felt a lot better.”
Williams was playing only her 11th match of the year because of injuries, though she pronounced herself fit afterward. She was rusty at the start, compiling 10 unforced errors by midway through the third game.
But she ran off 11 consecutive points to get back into the match, and her powerful baseline strokes eventually proved too much for Laine.
“She started to play better,” Laine said, “and didn’t miss so much.”
There was a near fight at the end of No. 12 Mario Ancic’s win over Paul Capdeville. Ancic was bothered by the Chilean’s complaints to the chair umpire, including before the postmatch handshake, and he told Capde- ville so. Capdeville thought Ancic lunged at him and responded by pushing Ancic, but it ended there.
“The chair umpire favored him all the way,” Capdeville said. “I was just criticizing the chair umpire, so I don’t understand why (Ancic) reacted this way.”
French Open / At a glance
A brief look at the French Open in Paris on Wednesday:
Attendance: 34,989. Last year: 34,674.
Men’s top-seeded winners: No. 1 Roger Federer, No. 3 David Nalbandian, No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 10 Gaston Gaudio, No. 12 Mario Ancic, No. 13 Nicolas Kiefer, No. 20 Thomas Berdych, No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 30 Carlos Moya.
Women’s top-seeded winners: No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, No. 7 Patty Schnyder, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 9 Francesca Schiavone, No. 11 Venus Williams, No. 14 Dinara Safina, No. 16 Nicole Vaidisova.
Women’s seeded losers: No. 22 Ai Sugiyama, No. 25 Marion Bartoli, No. 27 Anna Chakve- tadze, No. 29 Sofia Arvidsson.
Suspended matches: Among the matches suspended or postponed Wednesday were those involving Tim Henman, No. 7 Tommy Robredo – and Martina Navratilova in doubles.
On court today: Defending champions Rafael Nadal and No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne, No. 2 Kim Clijsters, No. 12 Martina Hingis, No. 8 James Blake.
Stat of the day: Seven hours – Time it took to complete Kiefer’s five-set victory over Marc Gicquel, including three rain delays.
Quote of the day: “It’s sunny, and five minutes later it gets dark and windy.” – Sharapova
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
