Paris, May 28:

Venus Williams advanced to the second round of the French Open by beating French teenager Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-3 on Monday on a damp court after another long rain delay.

Williams survived a pair of breaks in the first set and another in the second on center court.

It was second straight day of rain at the French Open, but this time the delay lasted only about three hours. That was still enough to postpone at least 22 matches, including those involving No 4 Jelena Jankovic, No 6 Nicole Vaidisova and No 15 David Nalbandian.

Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also advanced, easily beating Stefano Galvani of Italy 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 as the rain returned.

On Sunday, only seven of the 24 scheduled matches even began because of about five and half hours of rain, and Justine Henin and Serena Williams both had to wait to reach the second round.

The big difference: Serena struggled before her match was stopped, while Henin struggled before hers even started.

Serena was broken four times in the first set and again in the opening game of the second. She eventually beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Henin had little trouble beating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-4, 6-3. The Belgian will next face Tamira Paszek of Austria, who beat Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 6-0.

About an hour into the opening six matches, play was called with only Marat Safin having earned a win. Safin beat Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Also, Safin’s younger sister, Dinara Safina, defeated Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4. On the men’s side, Potito Starace of Italy beat Czech Ivo Minar 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and Janko Tipsarevic defeated Dusan Vemic 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an all-Serb match.