Mauresmo advances

Paris, May 27:

Amelie Mauresmo held her nerve and her serve when it counted on Tuesday, reaching the second round of the French Open by beating Olga Savchuk 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in a match interrupted by rain.

The start of play on Tuesday was delayed for 2 hours, 50 minutes because of rain, but Russian players Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina reached the second round before another rain delay of nearly three hours. When play resumed, No 14 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Mariya Koryttseva 6-4, 6-3. Among the men, fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Kuznetsova defeated Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-2, 6-3 before the rain returned, while Safina beat Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3. Each of the first three days of the French Open has been affected by rain, but Tuesday was the worst yet.