Defending champion Ana Ivanovic easily advances to 4th round at French Open

Ivanovic easily reaches 4th round at French Open

PARIS — Ana Ivanovic dominated another opponent at the French Open on Friday, this time beating Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the fourth round.

The defending champion from Serbia has lost only eight games since being taken to a tiebreaker in her opening match.

“(The) score doesn’t indicate how hard I had to work for some points,” Ivanovic said. “She started playing much, much better in the second set, and started hitting the ball much heavier. I just played really good and stayed in the moment and did what I had to do out there.”

Ivanovic, a former No. 1-ranked player, won her only Grand Slam title at last year’s French Open. She lost in the final at Roland Garros in 2007.

No. 4 Novak Djokovic reached the third round in the men’s tournament, quickly completing his suspended match by easily winning the final set and beating Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4, 6-1.

The fourth-seeded Djokovic won the first two sets Thursday, but the match was stopped because of darkness. He broke Stakhovsky to open the third set and had little trouble the rest of the way.

“It’s not pleasant when you don’t finish a match in one day,” Djokovic said. “But I was lucky to come back and be two sets up.”

Djokovic won his only Grand Slam title at the 2008 Australian Open, but the Serb has reached at least the semifinals at all four major tournaments.

No. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany also advanced to the third round, beating 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in another match suspended by darkness Thursday night.

Later Friday, top-seeded Dinara Safina was scheduled to get back on court, as were four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal and third-seeded Andy Murray. No. 3 Venus Williams was playing for the third straight day.

On Thursday, Jelena Dokic’s professional comeback took a painful turn.

The Australian was leading fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva in the second round of the tournament when she twisted her body into position for a backhand. Not too long after that, she retired from the match in tears.

“Don’t know what it is yet,” said Dokic, who reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open after a three-year absence from Grand Slam tennis. “It was very painful, and I just hope it’s not too serious.”

The withdrawal, with the unseeded Dokic leading 6-2, 3-4, sent Dementieva into the third round at Roland Garros along with Serena Williams, and Jelena Jankovic.

Roger Federer also made it through, rallying from a 5-1 deficit in the third set on his least favorite surface to beat Jose Acasuso of Argentina 7-6 (8), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2. Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro and No. 6 Andy Roddick also advanced.

Dokic won the first set on Court No. 1 and look poised for another Grand Slam upset this year. But with the score 2-2 in the second set and Dementieva serving, the 26-year-old Dokic did something that caused her to call time.

“I went for a serve … and just went down and couldn’t come back up,” Dokic said.

She turned away from her opponent and grabbed at the lower part of her back. She then rested for a brief moment by using her racket as a crutch.

“I had no pain prior to that, and it just happened in the match,” said Dokic, who gingerly walked to her chair to wait for a trainer. “It’s the first time I’ve had a problem with this.”

Dokic left the court and returned a few minutes later to continue playing. She even broke Dementieva to take a 3-2 lead, but then sat in her chair during the changeover and cried into her towel.

The crowd tried to cheer her up by clapping for her, and Dokic returned for more, but was quickly broken back. Dementieva then held for a 4-3 lead, and Dokic quit shortly after.

Again crying, Dokic was consoled by Dementieva, who walked over to put a hand on her opponent’s shoulder.

“I really don’t deserve to win today because of the way I was playing,” Dementieva said. “She was playing so much better. I was much too passive on the court.”