Rain mixes with clay at French Open, and former champ Ana Ivanovic is ousted between showers

Ivanovic eliminated at rainy French Open

PARIS — Ana Ivanovic hit another low in her slide since winning the French Open two years ago.

The former No. 1 player lost in the second round at rainy Roland Garros on Thursday, beaten by 28th-seeded Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-0.

Ivanovic was unseeded because she’s ranked only 42nd. The defeat marked her earliest exit in six trips to the French Open.

“It was a combination of a few things,” Ivanovic said. “I don’t think I played that bad, actually. For a while I think she didn’t miss a ball at all.”

The match lasted barely an hour — brief enough to be completed between showers. Play was delayed for 4½ hours at the start, and there was a later interruption lasting nearly an hour.

Four other matches were completed, all on the women’s side. No. 11-seeded Li Na and No. 17 Francesca Schiavone won, while 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm lost to Jarmila Groth 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.

No. 32-seeded Kateryna Bondarenko lost to Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4, 6-1. Na defeated Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 6-2. Schiavone swept Sophie Ferguson 6-2, 6-2.

Six singles matches were postponed, including those involving Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, meaning they won’t play their second-round matches until at least the sixth day of the tournament. Nadal faces Horacio Zeballos, and Williams plays Julia Goerges.

Sixteen doubles matches were also postponed.

“It’s not very pleasant to have to wait,” Cohen-Aloro said. “But we’re all in the same situation.”

No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick led Blaz Kavcic 6-3, 5-5 when their match was suspended. Those still scheduled to take the court Thursday included four-time champion Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic.

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 percent in the second set, and she won just 17 service points while double-faulting seven times. The Serb is 10-10 this year and has won a total of two matches in the past three Grand Slam tournaments.

Last winter she hired Steffi Graf’s old coach, Heinz Gunthardt, and she said she has since made progress.

“It’s going to take some time for it to become a pattern and just being used to competing again at that high level against top players,” Ivanovic said. “Some days it might be there; some days might not. No doubt I’m on the right way.”

Kleybanova advanced to the third round for the first time.

During the first rain delay, the players’ cafeteria and lounge areas in the main stadium were packed with players and their entourages, and there were long lines at concession stands and souvenir shops. Several hundred fans sat under umbrellas on center court watching a video replay of last year’s final between Roger Federer and Robin Soderling.

“I’m on the floor of the lockeroom in my bed of towels playing Angry Birds,” American doubles specialist and online game player 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 men’s second-round matches were suspended because of darkness Wednesday night, and four women’s matches were postponed.

The only washout of an entire day’s schedule on record at Roland Garros occurred May 30, 2000. Even so, the French tennis federation has been pushing for a roof and has studied the possibility of moving the tournament, with a site next to the Versailles castle among the locations being considered.

A project announced last year to build a court with a retractable roof less than 500 yards from the current center court was blocked because of political issues.

Wimbledon added a retractable roof last year atop a stadium that opened in the 1920s, and the Australian Open has retractable roof over two courts. But the French and U.S. Open must wait when it rains.