Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Alona Bondarenko and Anna Chakvetadze appear in this month’s French edition of FHM, an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.

Read more »

Third seed Venus Williams saved one match point in the deciding set and soon after converted her first to defeat 46th-ranked Lucie Safarova 6-7(5) 6-2 7-5 in the second round of the 2009 French Open.

The match between Williams and Safarova began yesterday, but after the world No.3 Williams lost a first-set tiebreaker the chair umpire called it a night.

The match point Williams faced was while trailing 5-4 in the final set, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion managed to hold serve, break the Czech and hold again for the win.

Williams was runner-up at Roland Garros in 2002, but since then she hasn’t gone further than the quarterfinals. Moreover, the American exited in the third round in three of the last four years.

Williams will next play Agnes Szavay, who moved into the third round on Wednesday, beating Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0. Notice, Szavay is winning again.

No.13 seed Marion Bartoli was upset today by Tathiana Garbin 6-3 7-5. Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova all advanced to the third round in straight sets. Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva will play their matches later today. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

China’s Li Na, seeded 25th, is the only representative of Asia still alive in the singles draw of Roland Garros 2009 after the fourth day of play.

Li defeated Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-1 6-4 to advance to the third round, while compatriot Zheng Jie, seeded 15th, was upset by Grand Slam debutant Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-4 6-3 in the second round. China’s No.31 seed Peng Shuai lost in the first round to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Japan's Ai Sugiyama, who extended her record for consecutive appearances in Grand Slam main draws to 60, and her compatriot Ayumi Morita both lost in the first round, along with India's Sania Mirza.

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic made a much more convincing score than in her first-round match and beat Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-2.

Li is now the only Asian women’s tennis player left out of the seven who entered the tournament. (source: Reuters, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

The most interesting match-up of the day lived up to the expectations with Maria Sharapova defeating No.11 seed Nadia Petrova 6-2 1-6 8-6 in the second round of the 2009 French Open. World No.1 and top seed Dinara Safina eased into the third round with a 6-1 6-1 victory over fellow Russian Vitalia Diatchenko, ranked 151st.

I had given Petrova a slight edge over Sharapova, having in mind Sharapova’s lack of match play (she returned to tennis only last week, after a nine-month long layoff). But as I said, just a slight edge, because of Sharapova’s fighting spirit which will always remain part of her.

The world No.102 Sharapova took the opening set 6-2, before Nadia Petrova, two-time semifinalist at Roland Garros, won the second 6-1. The third set lasted 71 minutes and I believe it’s a testimony that Sharapova is definitely back: she’s able to come from behind, play long matches, and is in full possession of her championship spirit.

Next for the three-time Grand Slam winner is Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

Safina, by far the most dominant player of the claycourt season, has lost only two games in her first two matches at this year’s Roland Garros, and spent less than two hours on court.

Safina, who is now on a 17-match winning streak, will face another Russian in the third round, 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who beat France's Julie Coin 6-2 7-6(2). (photo: Stephane Martinache)

I can say I’m pleased with Chinese brand ANTA at the 2009 French Open. They have finally made a dress worthy of Jelena Jankovic, and Zheng Jie looks super cute in the lavender/purple outfit.

Jankovic’s French Open dress has much more details in design and print than her previous ANTA ones. Also, the color is lively. Plus, they made the shorts match the dress – I hated those white shorts underneath the orange dress.

Zheng Jie, who became the highest-ranked female Chinese player recently by reaching the No.15 spot (beating Li Na’s No.16 back in 2007), is wearing a blouse trimmed with pleats and a cloud-like print on the collar. Read more »

American Serena Williams lost to Czech Klara Zakopalova last month, when they met on the claycourts of Marbella, but the second seed converted her ninth match point to advance to the second round of Roland Garros. Williams won 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4.

The world No.100 Zakopalova saved five match points at 3-5 in the second set, and took the set to a tiebreak to win it on her fourth set point. Zakopalova kept up the momentum in the third set by breaking early, but Williams then won four games in a row. It wasn’t the end of Zakopalova, though, as she saved three more match points at 5-2 down and then broke back in the next game. However, she was finally defeated on Williams' ninth match point.

Zakopalova gave Williams a hard time, but she wasn’t strong enough to beat the 2002 French Open champion on Grand Slam stage, even though Williams entered the match without wins on clay this season.

Williams' opponent in the second round will be world No.133 Virginia Ruano Pascual, who defeated Nicole Vaidisova in the opening round.

Some other first-round results: Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, wearing the first non-boring ANTA dress, with nice detailing on the back, dominated Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-2 6-3 to reach the second round of Roland Garros. Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced in straight sets, as well as fourth seed Elena Dementieva. Virginie Razzano defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-3. Tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki battled past Vera Dushevina 4-6 7-5 6-1, in a match that started yesterday. Jelena Dokic is through, while Sania Mirza and Francesca Schiavone. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Wearing a new colorful EleVen dress, Venus Williams made her way into the second round of Roland Garros. The seven-time Grand Slam champion beat fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1 4-6 6-2. Maria Sharapova also progressed in three sets, defeating world No.64 Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 3-6 6-1 6-2.

Williams has never won the French Open, and was upset in the third round in three of the last four years, but she was a runner-up to her sister Serena in 2002. In addition, she holds a 36-12 record at Roland Garros, which makes her the player with most wins in the women's draw at the tournament.

Sharapova, now ranked only 102nd, lost the first set, but stormed through the next two to reach the second round of Roland Garros and book a meeting with seed No.11 Nadia Petrova, who will be Sharapova's toughest opponent since her recent comeback to competitive tennis. The third-seeded Williams will face Lucie Safarova in the second round.

Upsets: So far on Day 2, seed No.14 Flavia Pennetta and seed No.23 Alisa Kleybanova lost in the first round. Pennetta was upset by American world No.116 Alexa Glatch 6-1 6-1. Did anyone see what happened to Pennetta to have won only two games? Kleybanova lost to Slovenia's Polona Hercog, ranked 167th, 6-2 4-6 6-1. (source: AP, photos via Roland Garros, Yahoo)

Top seed Dinara Safina of Russia powered into the second round of Roland Garros without losing a game to British world No.48 Anne Keothavong.

Some of us thought Keothavong could challenge Safina, as she was semifinalist at last week’s claycourt event in Warsaw, but the in-form world No.1 is silencing the critics more and more after each match. The last year’s runner-up needed just over an hour to end Keothavong’s Roland Garros debut.

"You have to find a way to laugh about it. What else is there to do? I'm sure there will be jokes about it, but I can take it," said the 25-year-old Keothavong, who last week became the first British woman in 26 years to make the semifinals of a WTA event.

"When we shook hands, she said: 'At least you could have given me one game'," revealed Safina.

Compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko will be Safina's opponent in the second round. (via AFP, photo by our reader Elisa)

Amelie Mauresmo has been upset in the first round of Roland Garros for the first time since 2001, and once again the former world No.1 wasn’t successful at her home Grand Slam where she best reached the quarterfinals.

So who was the lucky winner? German world No.51 Anna-Lena Groenefeld defeated the 16th seed 6-4 6-3, showing the skills that got her to No.14 in the rankings in 2006, the year she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Both Mauresmo and Groenefeld hit 21 unforced errors, but Groenefeld scored 32 winners compared to Mauresmo’s 13.

France wasn’t lucky on Sunday, as only one of their six players who competed on Day 1 survived. Besides Mauresmo, Mathilde Johansson, Severine Bremond Beltrame, Olivia Sanchez, and Emilie Loit left the French Open right away in the first round, while the only Frenchwoman who won today was Julie Coin. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

The 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic advanced to the second round of this year’s event with a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over Italy’s Sara Errani.

The 44th-ranked Errani had a chance to serve for the first set in the tenth game at 5-4, even though Ivanovic had had a 3-1 lead, but the world No.8 Ivanovic didn’t allow that to happen, and took the set in the tiebreak.

The Serb, with her knee still taped, then dominated in the second set, surging into a 5-1 lead. She suffered a slight blip when Errani clawed one break back in the eighth game, but the champion eventually clinched victory.

The 21-year-old Ivanovic will play either Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn or Camille Pin of France in the second round of Roland Garros. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)