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ROLAND GARROS: Daily Review: Monday May 29

/noticias.info/ By Araz Gulekjian
Monday, May 29, 2006

The top seeds overcame blustery conditions on Monday to race into round two of the tournament.

Despite the poor weather and a brief rain shower, Spain's Rafael Nadal wasted no time in stomping Robin Soderling of Sweden, 6-2 7-5 6-1, in two hours and eight minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

By virtue of his success, the Mallorcan established a new record for the longest clay court winning streak in the Open era.

Nadal won his 54th match on the trot, passing all-time great Guillermo Villas' previous mark of 53.

"It's an important day for me. It's a beautiful record,'" said 19-year-old Nadal, who has not lost on clay since April 7 2005.

"It was the worse day to play on clay today. It was dangerous. But it was nice to come back here and get that first match out of the way."

Earlier on Monday, 2004 champ Gaston Gaudio, the No10 seed, hardly broke a sweat in his 6-2 6-2 6-2 dismantling of Croatian qualifier Roko Karanusic.

The 27-year-old Argentinean proved too strong for the 180-ranked Karanusic who was playing his first ever Roland Garros.

Gaudio, who squares off with little-known Russian Evgeny Koralev in the second round, is on course for a dramatic third round clash with 2003 champion Juan-Carlos Ferrero of Spain. Ferrero posted a 6-3 2-6 6-2 6-4 win over teenager Juan Martin Del Potro.

Also joining Gaudio in round two is Russian Nikolay Davydenko, a 7-5 6-4 6-4 victor over US veteran Vincent Spadea.

Meanwhile on the women's side, second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium survived a second set scare against Virginie Razzano.

After steamrolling the Frenchwoman in the opener, Clijsters, a two-time runner up here at the 'Porte d'Auteuil', blew hot and cold. Down 2-5 in the second set, she regrouped just in time to snatch the victory in a contested tie breaker 6-0 7-6 (4).

"In the second set, I wasn't being aggressive enough," Clijsters said. "Today, it was almost playing like on a hard court because of the wind."

Asked about her chances of reigning supreme on the final day of the tournament, Clijsters said: ''My goal is to find the game that allowed me to win the US Open last year. At least feel as good. It's hard because my game depends on my movement. And moving on clay is harder for me."

No11 seed Venus Williams also produced a streaky performance despite her 6-4 6-3 triumph over Austria's Sybille Bammer. The US player thumped 26 winners but committed 33 unforced errors.

Venus, making her tenth consecutive appearance here, is bidding to capture her first Roland Garros after reaching the finals in 2002, her best showing to date.

Also advancing Monday was Russian Elena Dementieva, the No6 seed and 2004 runner-up, who ousted Slovakian Martina Sucha 7-6(3) 6-2, and fellow countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova, who mercilessly dumped Laura Granville 6-4 6-0. notas_de_prensa_archivo