PARIS - Russian players Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina advanced to the second round of the French Open on Tuesday before rain again disrupted play at Roland Garros.

Safina, seeded 13th, defeated Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-3.

Later Tuesday, Rafael Nadal was scheduled to begin his quest for a fourth straight French Open title against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil . Nikolay Davydenko won the first two sets of his match before play was halted early in the third, and Lleyton Hewitt and 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero were scheduled to play later in the day.

On Monday, Roger Federer added another win to his already burgeoning clay-court record this season.

"I‘ve played well all clay-court season long," said the top-ranked Federer, who is 27-7 overall this year. "Didn‘t have many hiccups really, and I have plenty of matches. That was my goal as well."

No. 8 Venus Williams joined sister Serena in the second round, completing her win just before play was suspended Monday. The eight-time Grand Slam champion overcame a second-set lapse to beat Tzipora Obziler of Israel 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic also advanced, beating Monica Niculescu 7-6 (3), 6-2, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, the youngest person in the singles tournament at 16, reached the second round by beating Maria Emilia Salerni of Argentina 6-1, 6-1.

From : http://www.localnewswatch.com/