Federer sweats to stop fired-up Frenchman

By Bill Scott May 31, 2007, 2:11 GMT

Swiss Roger Federer celebrates after winning his 2nd round match against French Thierry Ascione at the French Open in Roland Garros, Paris, 30 May 2007. Federer won 6-1, 6-2, 7-6. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA

Paris - Ruthless Roger Federer had his troubles in subduing a charged-up challenger Wednesday before moving into the third round of the French Open on another day of weather chaos.

The Swiss top seed, bidding to complete his Grand Slam trophy collection with the Roland Garros title that has so far eluded him, was playing for the third straight day at the rain-marred event.

The Swiss needed two days to complete an opening match but made up for lost time as he overcame Thierry Ascione 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8).

Federer was on cruise control in heavy conditions when his game hit a speed bump as he served for victory leading 5-4 in the third set.

Instead of finding himself in the locker room, the number-one seed ended up in a tiebreaker.

Ascione put up even more of a battle after twice denying Federer earlier. He saved three more match points and missed on two set points of his own before Federer put an end to the drama on his sixth chance.

'Conditions were shocking. I tried to get out of it as quick as possible, you know, at 5-3, and 40-15,' said Federer.

'But, the match was good, and I was happy. It's not so easy when you go into a match and you have basically one hour-45 or two hours to complete a match. So it was tough.'

With the schedule split among rounds due to this week's weather, women's top seed and three-time winner Justine Henin fast-tracked into the third round with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek.

Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic joined her, beating Catalina Castano 6-3, 6-3.

In the first round, second seed Maria Sharapova put Russia on a roll, while local heroine Amelie Mauremso got off to her best start in years at her home Grand Slam.

Sharapova is playing with a right shoulder full of pain-killing cortisone.

She booked a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Emilie Loit. Number three Svetlana Kuznetsova booked her place with a win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-0, 6-3.

Up-and-coming ninth seed Anna Chakvetadze hammered Australian Alicia Molik 6-2, 6-3 to complete a seeded Russian hat-trick.

Mauresmo was relieved to finally get her opening match completed.

The sometimes fragile player has often suffered with a fatal case of nerves in front of the Parisian crowd. But the fifth seed had no problems as she opened with a delayed win over American Laura Granville 6-0, 7-5.

The match was delayed a day or more due to weather, which has hampered the major this opening week.

'I was ready to play yesterday, even on Monday,' said the two-time quarter-finalist. 'I waited very patiently when I looked at the weather on Monday, realized that my match would be postponed. It didn't come as a surprise, and I was quite at ease waiting for Wednesday.'

The Frenchwoman is only now getting her form back after appendix surgery, which kept her out two months earlier this season.

Sharapova, meanwhile, has been plagued for months by shoulder problems, which finally resulted in her taking the injection in order to play in Paris.

'My shoulder is still not where I want it to be. It's still not perfect,' said the former Paris quarter-finalist.

'I love competing and whatever it takes for me to be here. I have a lot of respect for this tournament, and I wanted to be as ready as I could be. I'm willing to go out there, and I'm willing to fight as much as I can. And even without a serve, I'm good enough to win many matches.'

Venus Williams earned a win against Ashley Harkleroad.

On the men's side, sixth seeded Serb Novak Djokovic finished off a first-round match interrupted the evening before by darkness, stopping Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez upset Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

As the second round began, Russians Nikolay Davydenko, the number four, and 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny both advanced. Davydenko took another straight-sets win, beating Werner Eschauer 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, while Youzhny took out Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-0, 6-4.

Spain's Tommy Robredo moved through, while Belgian Kristof Vliegen slammed French hope Richard Gasquet, the 11th seed, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-1.