Federer advances with ease

PARIS -- Roger Federer was better than the weather.

On a third consecutive damp, chilly day at the French Open, the top-ranked Federer endured two rain delays while beating Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round Wednesday.

The two delays totaled 1 hour, 31 minutes, while the match lasted only 1 hour, 26 minutes.

"I'm happy to get through," Federer said. "It's not easy to come on and off. You always hope your game is still there and it hasn't left you."

Federer shanked forehands on two match points in the final game before closing out the victory to improve to 40-3 this year. He never lost his serve, won 55 of 68 service points and finished with 41 winners to 13 for Falla.

The final match of the evening found Venus Williams on center court in a Roland Garros sweatshirt, racing darkness to close out her match at 9:48 p.m. Williams, seeded 11th, lost the first four games but rallied and beat Emma Laine 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Temperatures were in the 50s for a second successive day, and because of rain, one match took seven hours to complete. No. 13 Nicolas Kiefer finally beat 29-year-old wild-card Marc Gicquel of France 6-0, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9.

Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France, who took the court after the showers passed, overcame some nervous moments in the second set to beat Vera Dushevina 6-1, 7-6 (5).

---

FRENCH OPEN RESULTS

Wednesday at Stade Roland Garros, Paris; Purse: $18.23 million (Grand Slam); Surface: Clay-Outdoor

SINGlES

Men

Second Round

Nikolay Davydenko (6), Russia, def. Flavio Saretta, Brazil, 6-2, 4-1, retired.

Carlos Moya (30), Spain, def. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Thomas Berdych (20), Czech Republic, def. Filippo Volandri, Italy, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.

Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, def. Alejandro Falla, Colombia, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Nicolas Kiefer (13), Germany, def. Marc Gicquel, France, 6-0, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9.

Nicolas Massu (32), Chile, def. Max Mirnyi, Belarus, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

Juan Carlos Ferrero (24), Spain, def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Lukas Dlouhy, Czech Republic, def. Jose Acasuso (26), Argentina, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-1.

Albert Montanes, Spain, def. Stefano Galvani, Italy, 7-5, 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4.

David Nalbandian (3), Argentina, def. Richard Gasquet, France, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Mario Ancic (12), Croatia, def. Paul Capdeville, Chile, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Gaston Gaudio (10), Argentina, def. Evgeny Korolev, Russia, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 3-6,

Raemon Sluiter, Netherlands, def. Nicolas Lapentti, Ecuador, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1.

Dmitry Tursunov (31), Russia, leads Tim Henman, Britain, 6-3, 6-2, susp., darkness.

Sebastien Grosjean (21), France, leads Martin Vassallo Arguello, Argentina, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, susp., darkness.

Tommy Robredo (7), Spain, leads Ilia Bozoljac, Serbia-Montenegro, 7-5, 6-2, 1-3, susp., darkness.

Women

First Round

Alize Cornet, france, def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, Spain, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Second Round

Dinara Safina (14), Russia, def. Hana Sromova, Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-2.

Aravane Rezai, France, def. Ai Sugiyama (22), Japan, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Katarina Srebotnik (24), Slovenia, def. Ashley Harkleroad, United States, 6-3, 6-2.

Flavia Pennetta (17), Italy, def. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium, 6-1, 6-0.

Maria Sharapova, Russia (4), def. Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-1.

Jelena Jankovic, Serbia-Montenegro, def. Marion Bartoli (25), France, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Li Na, China, def. Anna Chakvetadze (27), Russia, 7-5, 6-3.

Nicole Vaidisova (16), Czech Republic, def. Sun Tiantian, China, 6-1, 6-3.

Francesca Schiavone (9), Italy, def. Martina Muller, Germany, 6-2, 6-2.

Amelie Mauresmo (1), France, def. Vera Dushevina, Russia, 6-1, 7-6 (5).

Alicia Molik, Australia, def. Anda Perianu, Romania, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (8), Russia, def. Mara Santangelo, Italy, 7-5, 6-2.

Julia Vakulenko, Ukraine, def. Sofia Arvidsson (29), Sweden, 6-1, 7-5.

Patty Schnyder (7), Switzerland, def. Jarmila Gajdosova, Slovakia, 6-4, 6-2.

Karolina Sprem, Croatia, def. Peng Shuai, China, 6-4, 4-3, retired.

Venus Williams (11), United States, def. Emma Laine, Finland, 7-6 (2), 6-2.