Former French Open tennis champions Gaston Gaudio of Argentina and Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero have reached the second round of this year's tournament at Roland Garros in Paris.
The 10th seeded Gaudio, who won in 2004, breezed past Croatian qualifier Roko Karanusic, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, Monday. Gaudio will next face Russian Evgeny Korolev, who ousted Italian Andreas Seppi in a five set marathon, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Ferrero, the 2003 men's champion, eliminated Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia easily beat American Vincent Spadea 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.
The women's draw lost its first seeded player when Russian Elena Likhovtseva, the 18th seed and a semi-finalist last year, was toppled by Karolina Sprem of Croatia, 6-1, 6-1. Sprem next meets rising Chinese star Peng Shuai who defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-2. Second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium opened her campaign with a straight sets win over France's Virginie Razzano, 6-0, 7-6.
Chinese number one Li Na also advanced in a tough victory over American Amy Frazier, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1. Seventh seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland beat Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-2. Italian Francesca Schiavone, seeded ninth, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine. Venus Williams of the United States eased past Sybille Bammer of Austria, 6-4, 6-3.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.