Start with this statistic on a busy, blustery day at Roland Garros: Maria Sharapova hit 17 double-faults. It bears repeating: 17. She hammered hard serves, and they sailed long. She tapped soft serves, and they landed in the bottom of the net. And she played poorly enough overall to come within two points of becoming the only No. 1-seeded woman in French Open history to lose in the first round. Sharapova did regroup in time to barely piece together a 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 victory over Evgeniya Rodina, a Russian teen making her Grand Slam debut Wednesday. “I don't think I'd be able to get away with not playing and not serving that well with maybe a different opponent and somebody that has more experience, a top player,” said Sharapova, who placed part of the blame for her woes on swirling wind that kicked up clouds of dust on court. “But I'll work on it, and it will be better.” The awful serving and generally sub-par showing by someone who's supposed to be the best in the world at what she does shared top billing with the dry weather as Wednesday's most noteworthy developments. After three days of rain – Sharapova originally was to be on court Tuesday – not a drop fell, permitting match after match after match at the clay-court major. That meant there were other numbers of note, if not much in the way of stunning results: – Serena Williams made it to the third round for the 33rd time in 34 career Grand Slam tournaments. – Rafael Nadal improved to 22-0 at the French Open. – A year after US men went 0-9 in Paris, five reached the second round, and one, Wayne Odesnik, already moved into the third. Serena found herself trailing 5-3 in the second set against Mathilde Johansson, a French wild-card entry who began this tournament with a 2-5 career Grand Slam record. But Serena took the next four games to end it 6-2, 7-5. “I haven't played my best tennis, so hopefully the next round, I'll play better,” said Serena, who won the French Open in 2002 and is the only past champion in the women's field. Nadal began his bid to match Bjorn Borg's four consecutive titles from 1978-81 by beating qualifier Thomaz Bellucci. A rain shower forced them to pack up and head home Tuesday tied at 1-1, and Nadal stumbled at the start Wednesday, getting broken to fall behind 2-1, then again when serving for the first set at 5-3. But he recovered nicely, winning 7-5, 6-3, 6-1. “It was tough, no? The conditions are very, very bad,” Nadal said. “The winds are terrible.” Like Nadal, Bellucci entered the day never having been forced to experience the bitter taste of defeat at Roland Garros. That, of course, is because he never had played a main-draw match in the French Open – or any other Grand Slam tournament, for that matter. Nadal, Sharapova and other players around the grounds complained about the way loose particles got in their faces and left courts barer than usual. “Apart from eating and breathing the sand, it was great,” Sharapova said. No. 3 Novak Djokovic dropped only five games in beating Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round. “It's always good to have easy matches,” said Djokovic, the Australian Open champion. Andy Murray believed he had a point to prove in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday and his impressive 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 win over Argentinian claycourter Jose Acasuso in a second round tie clearly did the job. Murray struggled to a five-set win over French youngster Jonathan Eysseric in his opening round on Sunday and it added fuel to those that say that he will never be a threat on the slow claycourts. Sharapova, who also won in Melbourne in January, made more than twice as many unforced errors as Rodina, 51-23. “I had problems in every department,” Sharapova said. “Realistically, I don't know if there's any way down from here.” She could, at least, take solace in not having joined No. 9 Marion Bartoli on the way out after one match. Bartoli, a Frenchwoman who was a Wimbledon finalist last year but is struggling with a wrist injury and an 8-12 record at the moment, lost to Casey Dellacqua of Australia 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova twice served three double-faults in a single game, making recreational players everywhere feel better about their own foibles. On occasion, she resorted to first soft serves. Trailing 4-3 in the final set, Sharapova faced three break points and saved them, remarkably, with three fantastic first serves. Then, down 5-4, a – wait for it – double-fault made the score 30-all, putting Rodina two points from about as big a stunner as tennis has seen. Somehow, Sharapova mustered two service winners. Three games later, Sharapova finally seized control, breaking serve to go ahead 7-6 with a big forehand return that caught Rodina flat-footed. Sharapova still had to hold serve one more time, and she did, although not before one last double-fault, No. 17. – AP __
