JOIN USFalla fails Federer test as rain mars fourth day
Falla had lost just three points on his serve when a hold at 6-5 would have given him the first set, but Federer broke back and stormed through the tie-break on his way to a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga charged into the third round with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 pummelling of fellow Frenchman Josselin Ouanna.
The eighth-seeded Tsonga raced to a 6-0 3-0 lead on court Suzanne Lenglen as his close friend Ouanna failed to score a single point on his second serve.Sweden's Robin Soderling joined Tsonga in the third round, destroying American Taylor Dent for the loss of just two games.The 2009 runner-up needed just 71 minutes to post a 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 victory and set up a last-32 clash against either qualifier Tobias Kamke of Germany or Spain's 29th seed Albert Montanes.
So far in the tournament the fifth seed has conceded just seven games after his first round defeat of Laurent Recouderc.Soderling, who stunned four-time champion Rafael Nadal last year and went on to lose to Roger Federer in the final, took the opening set in 17 minutes, dropping just five points.
Dent finally registered on the scoreboard when he held serve early in the second set but he had no answer to the baseline power of Soderling who powered on to victory.
After a frustrating hour or so when two rain breaks ruined the momentum of the match, Federer upped his game and treated a crowd dominated by the excitable cheers of local schoolchildren to a feast of stroke-making as he came through in two hours.
He will now play Belgium's Olivier Rochus or German qualifier Julian Reister for a place in the last 16.
In the women’s category, Venus Williams took another step towards her first title with a routine 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja. She next faces Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova or Varvara Lepchenko of the United States in the third round.
Bhupathi-Mirnyi win
Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bulgarian partner Max Mirnyi cruised into the second round of men’s doubles after a straight set victory over Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner.
Fifth seed Bhupathi-Mirnyi took 58 minutes to pack off the duo of Melzer of Austria and Petzschner of Germany 6-3, 6-2 in their first round match.
They will next take on Spaniard combo of Marc Lopez and Pere Riba in the second round on Thursday.Lopez-Riba beat French pair of Jonathan Eysseric and Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4 in another opening round match.Meanwhile, Bhupathi and her American partner Liezel Huber have been given the top billing at the mixed doubles event while Leander Paes and Cara Black are seeded second.Huber was a winner here last year along with her compatriot Bob Bryan. Bhupathi and Huber will take on Taipei’s Yung-Jan Chan and American Eric Butorac in their opening match.Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black will open their campaign against local pair of Pauline Parmentier and Marc Gicquel.
French Open results
Results (prefix denotes seeding): Men, second-round: 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Alejandro Falla (Col) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-4; Leonardo Mayer (Arg) bt Julien Benneteau (Fra) 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 11-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Lukas Lacko (Slo) 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2; 8-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Josselin Ouanna (Fra) 6-0, 6-1, 6-4; 10-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spa) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Viktor Troicki (Serb) bt Carsten Ball (Aus) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 29-Albert Montanes (Spa) bt Tobias Kamke (Ger) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, 5-Robin Soderling (Swe) bt Taylor Dent (US) 6-0, 6-1, 6-1.
First round: Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Simon Greul (Ger) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.
Women, second round: 14-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Roberta Vinci (Ita) 6-1, 6-1; 31-Alexandra Dulgheru (Rom) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) 6-4, 6-2; 26-Dominika Cibulkova (Slo) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 4-6, 6-2, 6-0; 2-Venus Williams (US) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa) 6-2, 6-4; Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) bt Johanna Larsson (Swe) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; 19-Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Agnes Szavay (Hun) 6-1, 6-2.