Kuznetsova cruises into round two

Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made short work of French Open debutant Claire Feuerstein to seal her place in round two at Roland Garros today.

Russia’s Kuznetsova, the only woman to beat world number one and tournament favourite Dinara Safina on clay this season, eased through 6-1 6-4 against her French opponent on Suzanne Lenglen court.

Kuznetsova, who was a semi-finalist here last year and runner-up in 2006, was 5-1 ahead when play was suspended because of rain at 1130 local time.

Returning more than two hours later, she only needed another 35 minutes to wrap up victory and a meeting with Galina Voskoboeva.

Two-time Roland Garros semi-finalist Jelena Jankovic, the fifth seed, joined Kuznetsova in the hat for the second round.

The Serbian’s match with Petra Cetkovska was also affected by the rain – they scurried off court when Jankovic was 4-1 ahead – but she finished the job when they resumed, needing a second match point to prevail 6-2 6-3.

Another seed to go through was Aleksandra Wozniak (24), from Canada, thanks to her victory over Monica Niculescu.

Other winners on day three were Petra Martic, Melinda Czink, Sybille Bammer and Magdalena Rybarikova.