Defending champion Francesca Schiavone swept into the French Open second round on Monday, as top seed Caroline Wozniacki prepared to open her campaign against Japanese veteran Kimiko ate-Krumm. Fifth seed Schiavone, who last year became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam, beat American 19-year-old Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-0 and will meet Russian Vesna Dolonts in round two. “I’m still shaking a little bit,” admitted Schiavone, after returning to Court Philippe Chatrier, the scene of her emotional victory over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in last year’s final. “There was a lot of adrenaline. I felt really happy to be there.
“That court is fantastic because it’s compact and the court is perfect. It goes all around you. “It’s like when you go home and your mum does everything for you and you feel comfortable. I felt like this, but with a lot of adrenaline. “I was excited to be there at 11 o’clock on centre court.” Russian third seed Vera Zvonareva, a losing finalist at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010, joined Schiavone in the second round when she overcame Spanish veteran Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-3, 6-3 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Zvonareva’s next opponent is German qualifier Sabine Lisicki. Wozniacki, 20, will be up against a woman twice her age later on Monday when she confronts Date-Krumm, who has been playing professional tennis since before Wozniacki was born. The Danish star, who won her fourth title of the year in Brussels last week, is bidding to progress beyond the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time, having lost to Schiavone in the last eight 12 months ago.
Czech ninth seed Petra Kvitova, who triumphed in the Madrid Masters on clay earlier this month, eased into the second round with a 6-2, 6-1 thrashing of Hungary’s Greta Arn. Agnieszka Radwanska, the 12th seed from Poland, encountered similarly limited resistance from Austria’s Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, winning 6-1, 6-2. Elsewhere, Slovakian 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova and Italy’s number 30 seed Vinci both overcame potential banana skins to take their places in round two. Hantuchova beat China’s Zhang Shuai 6-3, 6-3, while Vinci edged countrywoman Alberta Brianti in a three-set contest, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. There was no such joy, however, for Russian 26th seed Nadia Petrova, who went down 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4 to Australia’s Anastasia Rodionova.
