Eighth seed Venus Williams and third seed Jelena Jankovic moved into the third round of Roland Garros in straight sets.

William’s victory was more dominant than Jankovic’s. The American defeated Tunisia's Selima Sfar 6-2 6-4, while Jankovic had to come from behind in the second set to beat New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 6-2 7-6 (7-5).

Despite making 25 unforced errors, Williams was too strong for the 31-year-old qualifier ranked 241st in the world. As for Jankovic, she took the first set in 37 minutes but struggled to wrap up her victory after needing treatment on her thigh. World No.80 Erakovic served for the second set at 6-5 and also led 5-3 in the tie-break, but Jankovic then won four straight points and clinched victory.

In the third round of the 2008 French Open, Venus Williams will face Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, seeded 26th, and Jelena Jankovic will play Slovakian 28th seed Dominika Cibulkova. (via BBC, photos: Getty Images)

In an interview, world No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, known for being a fun and positive person, straightforwardly said that nobody has a chance against Serbia's Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic at this year's Roland Garros. Haha, look at the way she expressed that.

Interviewer: There are three players from Serbia here, you know. Can you see any of them as a winner of Roland Garros?

Kuznetsova: Yes, definitely. Ivanovic or Jankovic going to win. We are losers.

(via Women Who Serve, photo via BBC)

Ninth-seed Marion Bartoli exited her home Grand Slam in the first round as Australian Casey Dellacqua defeated her 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Wimbledon finalist Bartoli, who last year reached the fourth round at Roland Garros, was 6-5 up when rain ended play on Tuesday but she could not find her pace on Wednesday, losing after two hours and two minutes.

In the second round, world No.51 Dellacqua will face another Frenchwoman, Nathalie Dechy, ranked 88th. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova’s first appearance at 2008 Roland Garros was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to rain, and that change of plans apparently did her no good since her today's performance was far from satisfactory. Sharapova advanced to the second round with a 6-1 3-6 8-6 win over fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, ranked 103 in the world, on a windswept Centre Court.

Top-seeded Sharapova almost became the first women’s tennis player ranked No.1 in the world to lose in the first round of Roland Garros, and on top of all that, it was Rodina's first Grand Slam appearance. However, it’s very difficult to beat fighter Sharapova, even when she makes 17 double faults and 68 unforced errors, which was the case today.

The Russian, who is hoping to complete a career grand slam by winning the Roland Garros crown, next faces Bethanie Mattek. (photo via Getty Images)

Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia moved into the second round of Roland Garros with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over Romania's Monica Niculescu.

It was not that easy win for Jankovic. Despite taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, she in the end had to play a tiebreak. The Serb finally won the first set after one hour of play. World number 86 Niculescu, who was making her Roland Garros debut, confused world No.3 Jankovic with a series of superfine drop shots. In the second set, however, Jankovic got used to Niculescu’s game and finished the set in just 32 minutes.

In the second round Jankovic will meet either Italian Tathiana Garbin or New Zealand's Marina Erakovic. (via BBC)