French Open: Stosur, Ivanovic, Tsonga advance; Roddick falls

Paris, France (AHN Sports) – Sixth seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia opened her French Open campaign with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Elena Baltacha of Britain Sunday.

Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champion, committed just one unforced error with 11 winners in the second set to advance to the 2nd round against Irina Falconi, who beat No.89-ranked Edina Gallovits-Hall, 3-6, 6-3 6-1.

“I’m overall happy with the way I played and the scoreline and everything else,” Stosur told wtatennis.com. “It’s good to be on these courts again. It’s obviously a beautiful court to play on. The ball definitely gets up high – you can use your kick serve and topspin groundstrokes well. It’s nice to be back.”

“It’s one of those matches where I’ve got to go out there and think about my own tennis more so than theirs,” Stosur said of the looming match against Falconi, whom she defeated in straight sets in their only previous meeting.

On the women’s side, joining Stosur in the second round were No. 10 Angelique Kerber, No. 13 Ana Ivanovic, No. 26 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 20 Lucie Safarova.

Other seeded players who advanced to the second round were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (5th), Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina (9th), Marin Cilic (21st), Stanislas Wawrinka (18th) and Fernando Verdasco (14th).

While other seeded players advanced as expected, 26th seed Andy Roddick fell by the wayside, losing to Nicolas Mahut of France, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

“I wasn’t playing really well,” said Roddick. “I moved just horrendously out here. My first step is just so bad on this stuff. I feel like I’m always shuffling or hopping or not stopping or something. So my footwork on this stuff now is just really bad.”

Tsonga overcame a slow start to edge Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 while del Potro defeated Spaniard Albert Montanes, 6-2 6-7 6-2 6-1, despite a nagging knee problem.

Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion, eliminated Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to arrange a second-round clash with Cilic, who defeated Daniel Munoz, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

Kuznetsova beat Mariana Lucic, 6-1 6-3, Safarova downed Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-2, 6-0, and 2008 champion, Ana Ivanovic destroyed Spanish qualifier Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, 6-1 6-1.

Venus Williams survived a tough Argentine teen Paula Ormaechea, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, to advance together with compatriot Melanie Oudin, who defeated Johanna Larsson, 6-3, 6-3.

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