Play goes away in rain

13 of 72 matches completed at Roland Garros; Sharapova, Nadal among delayed

May 28, 2008

PARIS - A photo of Maria Sharapova graced the cover of the French Open's official daily program yesterday, which might be considered false advertising.

That's because the No. 1 woman didn't play a point, forced by the wet weather to wait instead until at least Day 4 of the tennis tournament to begin her quest to complete a career Grand Slam.

Rafael Nadal played all of two games of his opening match before collecting his things and trundling off center court, the start of his bid for a fourth consecutive title at the clay-court major halted by one of a series of showers.

Just 13 of 72 scheduled matches were completed, and past major champions Amelie Mauresmo and Svetlana Kuznetsova were quite pleased to duck into the second round between drizzles.

Yes, Wimbledon has come to Roland Garros, with rain affecting action on all three days so far and allowing for less than three hours of play yesterday. While the All England Club is constructing a dome over Centre Court ahead of the 2009 championship, the French tennis federation has said it might build a retractable roof by 2012.

"We definitely would like to have that," said the 22nd-seeded Mauresmo, a Frenchwoman who overcame nine double faults and 35 unforced errors to beat Olga Savchuk, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko eliminated 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Not surprisingly, the only five men's matches that finished were straight-set affairs.

In addition to Davydenko - still at the center of the Association of Tennis Professionals' investigation into irregular betting patterns on a match he played in August 2007 - and No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka, winners included Mario Ancic and Robin Soderling.

Kuznetsova, who is seeded fourth, had more than enough time to dispatch No. 71 Aiko Nakamura, 6-2, 6-3.

Also moving on to the second round with victories were No. 13 Dinara Safina, No. 14 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 31 Ai Sugiyama.