Americans Davenport, Venus Struggle at French Open

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport (d. Peng after dropping the first set) and No. 11 Venus Williams (d. Zuluaga in three) struggled into the third round Wednesday at the French Open. It was the second consecutive three-set win for Davenport, who skipped all the European claycourt lead-up tournaments.

"I definitely got lucky and escaped one today," said Davenport, who sounded resigned to her fate of eventually exiting without raising the trophy at Roland Garros. "This is going to be my toughest two-week tournament, however long I last. I don't expect to reach for the stars here."

Venus didn't help her cause with nine double faults against the Colombian Zuluaga.

"It was a challenging match," Venus said. "I think the best part was she's a player with variety. Sometimes she's hitting harder, and sometimes with more spin. I got to see everything I'll see throughout the rest of the tournament."

Other seeded winners Wednesday were (4) Elena Dementieva (d. Mamic), (8) Patty Schnyder (d. Kloesel), (9) Vera Zvonareva (d. Birnerova 6-0 in the third), (14) Kim Clijsters (d. Cervanova), (16) Elena Likhovtseva (d. Diaz-Oliva), (18) Silvia Farina Elia (d. Parra Santonja), (20) Daniela Hantuchova (d. Castano), (21) Mary Pierce (d. Kostanic 1-and-0), and (32) Flavia Pennetta (d. Domachowska).

"For me it's never easy to play first or second round because I need some time to get to the game, to get to the tournament," Dementieva said. "I think it was a tough match, but I'm glad I could finish in two sets."

Orchestrating upsets on the day were Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva (d. (19) Asagoe), France's Emilie Loit (d. (27) Frazier), and Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (31) Sprem).

Winners in the only all-unseeded meetings were Italy's Virginie Razzano (d. C.Fernandez 1-and-1) and Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi (d. Sanchez Lorenzo).

On court Thursday for the women are (2) Sharapova vs. Rezai, (13) Dechy vs. Stosur, (10) Henin-Hardenne vs. Ruano Pascual, (3) Mauresmo vs. Cornet, (7) Petrova vs. Beltrame, (17) Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin vs. Antonella Serra "Nevada" Zanetti, (6) Kuznetsova vs. Arvidsson, (22) Schiavone vs. Vaidisova, (29) Ivanovic vs. Benesova, Brandi vs. Nuria Llagostera "Pancho" Vives, (24) Maleeva vs. Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, (30) Gisela "Sgt." Dulko vs. Irvin, (12) Bovina vs. Garbin, Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. Groenefeld, Chakvetadze vs. Klara "Kouky" Koukalova, and Peschke vs. Peer.