Djokovic, Ivanovic advance in French Open

PARIS - Novak Djokovic completed a Serbian double at the French Open Friday as he joined defending champion and compatriot Ana Ivanovic in advancing by completing a match interrupted by darkness.

The fourth-seeded Djokovic finished off Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 and next faces German Philipp Kohlschreiber, winning in a held-over fifth set from the night before.

Playing deep in the outback of Roland Garros, the German number two beat former number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3.

The eighth-seeded Ivanovic had a straightforward victory against Czech Iveta Benesova Republic, 6-0, 6-2

But there was a shock as unheralded number 31 Agnes Szavay of Hungary stunned third seed Venus Williams 6-0, 6-4 as the American lost in the third round for the third consecutive year.

Ivanovic was pleased with her showing: “It was a pretty good match, I was really happy,” said the winner who had beaten Dinara Safina for the title a year ago. “The score doesn’t indicate how hard I had to work for some points.

“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. I’m really happy about my match today.”

France’s Aravane Rezai gave a lesson to the women’s game’s newest queen of scream Florida-based teenaged Portuguese Michella Larcher De Brito with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory into the fourth round.

The youngster boasts perhaps even a bigger set of pipes that even Maria Sharapova, current leader in the on-court decibel debate and known for her shrieking moans on almost every shot.

Larcher de Brito’s outbursts top even the Russian’s, with Rezai reduced to imposing her tennis on the neophyte, the first Portuguese player (man or woman) to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam.

The teenager will rise to the WTA Top 100 in the post-Paris rankings.

Rezai has been on a roll, winning her first career title at Strasbourg last week and claiming 14 of her last 16 matches on clay.

Both women accused the other of gamesmanship over the verbal jousting on court.

Spain’s eighth seed Fernando Verdasco won his third-round encounter with compatriot Nicolas Almagro a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8).