Dry day at Roland Garros

The match lasted barely an hour brief enough to be completed between showers. Play was delayed for 4 1/2 hours at the start,and there were two later interruptions.

Nine other matches were completed,seven on the womens side. No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic and No. 11 Li Na won,while 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm lost to Jarmila Groth of Australia 6-0 6-3.

Date Krumm became the oldest woman since 1985 to reach the second round when she upset former No. 1 Dinara Safina,the runner-up in 2008 and 2009. Three seeded women were beaten: No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska,No. 21 Vera Zvonareva and No. 32 Kateryna Bondarenko.

Radwanska was upset by Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-5 6-3. Zvonareva lost to Australian Anastasia Rodionova 6-4 6-4,while Bondarenko was beaten by Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4 6-1.

Jankovic eliminated Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2 3-6 6-4. Na defeated Stephanie Cohen-Aloro following the long delay at the start of the day,6-2 6-2.

On the mens side,No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis rallied past Spains Marcel Granollers 4-6 6-1 7-5 6-2.

Sixteen singles were postponed,including those involving Rafael Nadal,Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams,meaning they wont play their 2nd-round matches until Friday. Nadal faces Horacio Zeballos,Djokovic plays Kei Nishikori,and Williams takes on Julia Goerges. Twenty doubles matches were also postponed.

No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick led Blaz Kavcic 6-3 5-7 4-3 when their match was suspended for a second time. Those still scheduled to take the court on Thursday included four-time champion Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic has been nursing a right shoulder injury,and her serve was unreliable against Kleybanova. Ivanovic made less than half her first serves,including only 35 per cent in the second set,and she won just 17 service points while double-faulting seven times.

The Serb has won a total of two matches in the past three Grand Slams. Last winter she hired Steffi Grafs old coach,Heinz Gunthardt,and she said she has since made progress.

During the first rain delay,the players cafeteria and lounge areas in the main stadium were packed with players and their entourage,and there were long lines at concession stands and souvenir shops. Im on the floor of the lockeroom in my bed of towels playing Angry Birds, American doubles specialist Bob Bryan tweeted four hours into the delay. Anyone have 3 stars on all levels?

Rain fell with the tournament already behind schedule following three delays Wednesday,the longest of which lasted 90 minutes. Four mens 2nd round matches were suspended because of darkness on Wednesday,and four womens matches were postponed.