Serena Williams advances to 3rd round of French Open by beating Goerges 6-1, 6-1

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SWilliams reaches 3rd round at French Open

PARIS — Serena Williams waited a day to play, then won before lunch Friday at the French Open.

With almost mistake-free tennis, the top-ranked Williams won nine consecutive games and advanced to the third round by beating Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-1.

A schedule backlog caused by rain forced Williams to wait until the sixth day of the tournament for her second-round match. She took the court on a sunny, cool morning and needed only 55 minutes to complete the victory.

Williams has won 41 consecutive second-round matches in major tournaments since losing in that round in her Grand Slam debut in 1998 to her sister Venus.

Despite playing aggressively, Williams committed only four unforced errors to 20 for Goerges. Williams often moved two steps inside the baseline to smack returns, and she won 15 of 19 points on Goerges’ weak second serves.

Williams held every service game and sprinted forward several times to finish off points with swinging volleys. The 12-time Grand Slam champion is bidding for her first French Open title since 2002.

Andy Murray’s second-round match took two days to complete and was interrupted again after resuming Thursday, but he was pleased to beat the darkness and Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2.

“Rain delays — I’ve not really had many in my career,” Murray said. “It was a good experience for me, one I could have dealt with maybe a little bit better.”

His match was suspended Wednesday night at 3-all in the second set and, following a 4½-hour delay before play began Thursday, Murray started slowly. He found himself down a break in the third set before rallying.

“I just felt a little bit tense at the start,” he said. “Then I actually felt fine as soon as I went behind. That’s a bit strange, but that’s how it was. I started to play a lot better as soon as I got broken in the third set.”

Rain made a mess of the schedule Thursday, but the only significant upset was No. 13 Gael Monfils’ 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 loss to Fabio Fognini. The match had been suspended because of darkness Wednesday at 5-all in the fifth set.

Three seeded women lost: No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 21 Vera Zvonareva and No. 32 Kateryna Bondarenko.

Ana Ivanovic hit another low in her slide since winning the French Open two years ago, losing in the second round to No. 28 Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-0.

Eighteen singles matches were postponed, and five were suspended because of darkness.

No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick endured two delays and difficult conditions to defeat Blaz Kavcic 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. The damp weather took some zip off Roddick’s biggest weapon, and for much of the match he was dueling from the baseline on his worst surface.

“It was brutal for me out there,” he said. “I couldn’t get my serve to go anywhere, and the ball was just sitting up. It kind of takes away a lot of shots and it makes it just about hitting the ball and running. …

“I don’t know the last time I lost serve seven times and won. So, I mean, it’s bad, but there’s got to be something good in there somewhere, too.”

The dampness didn’t hamper the serves of 6-foot-9 American John Isner, who reached the third round at Roland Garros for the first time by beating Marco Chiudinelli 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-4. Isner, seeded 17th, whacked 38 aces playing on cozy Court 6.

“Everyone was talking about how slow the courts were playing,” Isner said. “I felt like my court stayed fairly fast.”

No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis rallied past Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 and reached the third round for only the second time in his career.

“I’m playing very smart on court and just finding solutions to win,” Baghdatis said. “I’m perfect physically. I have no injuries. I feel fit. I feel that I can last, so that makes things a bit easier.”

On the women’s side, No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, No. 5 Elena Dementieva and No. 11 Li Na won, while 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm lost to Jarmila Groth 6-0, 6-3.

Date Krumm was hampered by a calf injury suffered in the first round, when she beat former No. 1 Dinara Safina to become the oldest woman since 1985 to reach the second round.