Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic reached the third round at the French Open on Thursday, one easing through her match and the other playing through pain.
The eighth-seeded Williams used a six-game run to beat 241st-ranked qualifier Selima Sfar of Tunisia 6-2, 6-4. Jankovic, seeded third and a semifinalist at Roland Garros last year, was bothered by her right arm but defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Jankovic called for a trainer after holding to lead 3-2 in the second set.
"It started gradually, little by little," the 23-year-old Serb told the trainer after grimacing through a massage. "It's humid, and the balls are big and heavy. We're not used to it."
Jankovic refused to get a bandage on her arm.
"I don't want tape because I cannot play with tape. Just massage it," Jankovic said. "I prefer to play with the pain."
Jankovic broke in the next game to take a 4-2 lead, but Erakovic broke back to 4-3 and held to 4-4. At 5-all, the pair again traded breaks, and the New Zealander led 5-3 in the tiebreaker but Jankovic won the final four points to advance.
Williams trailed 2-1 after being broken early in the first set, but she didn't drop another game until leading 1-0 in the second set. The American made 16 more unforced errors than Sfar, but made up for that with strong play at the net. Williams won the point on 24 of her 35 trips forward.
Later Thursday, top-seeded Roger Federer and three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal were scheduled to play in the second round.
With the light fading on center court Wednesday and Serena Williams facing the possibility of heading into a third set at the French Open, the eight-time Grand Slam champion started to get a little peeved.
She quickly took care of that problem.
"I didn't want to go three sets today," said Williams, who won the last four games to beat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 7-5 in the second round at Roland Garros.
"I'm tired of playing so late and in the dark, and I was like, 'OK, I'm going to close it out before then,'" she added.
Joining Williams in the third round on Day 4 of the French Open was second-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who beat Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-2.
The younger Williams, the only past women's champion competing at Roland Garros, has made it to the third round at 33 of the 34 major championships she's entered during her career. The only time she didn't was a second-round loss at the 1998 Australian Open in her Grand Slam debut.
Since then, she has won eight major titles and gotten 10 years older. For a while now, she has found herself facing players who want to make a name for themselves by beating her.
"Especially if they're younger then they want to win," Williams said. "Everyone seems to want to beat me."
Johansson is only three years younger than the 26-year-old Williams, but she was playing in just her sixth Grand Slam tournament.
"Of course, I was nervous," said the Frenchwoman, who reached the second round at Roland Garros for the third straight year. "But I was not petrified."
Maria Sharapova struggled with her serve in the wind in her first-round match on center court, hitting 17 double-faults and barely managing to defeat 103rd-ranked Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6.
The top-ranked Russian, trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the clay-court major, landed only 64 percent of her first serves in the match.
"I was very close to losing this match," Sharapova said. "Not many things were working for me today after the first set."
Nadal improved to 22-0 for his career at Roland Garros by defeating Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 in a rain-interrupted match.
After rain suspended play Tuesday with the score at 1-1, Nadal was broken twice in the first set Wednesday, including while serving for the set at 5-3 before eventually winning.
"In two days I only practiced 20 minutes," said Nadal, adding the windy conditions were tough. "Difficult to go to the court and have a good rhythm. And first match, always you are nervous."
Nadal is trying to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1978-81 to win the clay-court Grand Slam tournament four years in a row. His next opponent is another qualifier, Nicolas Devilder of France.
Third-seeded Novak Djokovic moved into the third round by beating Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen of Spain 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
"It's always good to have an easy match," the Australian Open champion said.
