By Bill Barclay
PARIS, June 1 - An edgy Justine Henin-Hardenne
slithered into the French Open third round on Thursday when rain
again badly disrupted the schedule at the claycourt grand slam.
Men's seeds Lleyton Hewitt, Ivan Ljubicic and Tommy Robredo
also progressed but Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis
and Chile's Fernando Gonzalez were beaten in five sets on a day
when downpours caused two hours of play to be lost.
As a result the second round matches of defending men's
champion Rafael Nadal, Henin-Hardenne's fellow Belgian Kim
Clijsters and 12th seed Martina Hingis were postponed until
Friday when better weather is forecast.
On her 24th birthday women's defending champion
Henin-Hardenne was short of her best in a 6-2 7-5 victory over
19-year-old Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus played in steadily
worsening conditions.
The match looked certain to go into a decisive third set
when Yakimova held three set points at 5-4, 40-0 in the second
set.
However Henin-Hardenne saved all three, the last with an
audacious drop shot that left Yakimova sprawling in the mud.
The Belgian fifth seed, who also won the claycourt grand
slam in 2003, sealed victory two games later when Yakimova sent
a wild forehand long as rain tumbled on to centre court.
"It's like November in Belgium. It's really amazing. I don't
remember spending my birthday in weather like this,"
Henin-Hardenne said.
"It's difficult conditions for everybody. It's not pleasant
even for the crowd. We're running around on the court, but I
think in the stands they're freezing."
Henin-Hardenne faces a difficult third round match against
Italy's Tathiana Garbin, who knocked her out in the second round
when she was defending champion in 2004.
A demoralised Baghdatis lost 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-7 6-4 to France's
Julien Benneteau.
POINTS SAVED
The Cypriot, seeded 19, has suffered from injury and illness
since losing to Roger Federer in Melbourne in January. He saved
two match points in the fourth set before forcing a fifth but
Benneteau, ranked 95, proved the stronger in the decider.
"It's been tough for me after Australia, a lot of questions
in my head, a lot of doubts," Baghdatis said. "I'm thinking
about what people think, what people will say. I don't feel at
ease."
Gonzalez, seeded nine, beat former world number one Marat
Safin in the first round but he was undone by 19-year-old
Serbian Novak Djokovic 6-4 6-1 3-6 4-6 6-1.
Men's 14th seed Hewitt saved a set point before beating
Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt 7-5 6-3 6-3.
The Australian showed little sign of his ankle problem and
if the former world number one wins his third round match, he is
in line to meet Nadal in round four.
"Coming in here a week ago I wasn't sure if I'd be able to
play, so it's obviously good to be through to the third round,"
said Hewitt, twice a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros.
"I haven't wasted a lot of energy so far, got matches under
my belt. We'll see what happens from here, though."
Spanish seventh seed Robredo completed a four-set win over
Serbian Ilia Bozoljac, having led by two sets overnight.
Ljubicic, the Croatian men's fourth seed, outpowered Spanish
qualifier Oscar Hernandez 6-3 6-7 6-1 6-2.
Parisian teenager Gael Monfils matched his best grand slam
performance so far by reaching round three with a five-set win
over lofty Belgian Dick Norman.
British involvement in the singles ended, however, when
Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who had led by two sets overnight,
completed a 6-3 6-2 4-6 6-4 victory over Tim Henman.
Russia's 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina moved through but
sixth seed Elena Dementieva, the Russian she beat in that final,
was in trouble 5-1 down in the first set against Ukrainian
17-year-old Viktoriya Kutuzova when bad light halted play for
the day.