Fognini has Monfils' number

Rain wreaked havoc with Thursday's schedule at the French Open but the gloomy weather broke for long enough to see former champion Ana Ivanovic and veteran Japanese Kimiko Date Krumm exit the tournament.

Persistent rain started to batter the Roland Garros venue a matter of minutes before the scheduled 0900GMT start and only relented after a near five-hour delay.
Six singles matches, including those of four-times champion Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, were cancelled while 16 doubles contests were also forced to be rescheduled.

Around 90 minutes of play were possible mid-afternoon during which time Ivanovic, the champion of 2008 now ranked 42, looked a shadow of her former sparkling self in a 6-3, 6-0 defeat by Russian 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova.

At 39, Date Krumm became the second oldest women's player to win a singles match here with her first-round triumph over last year's runner-up Dinara Safina but her challenge ran out of steam in a 6-0, 6-3 rout by Australia's Jarmila Groth.

French hope Gael Monfils, who was locked at 5-5 in a bad-tempered fifth set of a tense second-round affair with Fabio Fognini on Wednesday, suffered a heart-breaking loss when his Italian rival won the final set 9-7 to move into the third round.

The French 13th seed had saved three match points in the final game before play was called offon Wednesday, limping between points and barely managing to serve as he struggled with a left knee injury. Tempers boiled over at 4-4 in the fifth set when Fognini, who recovered from two sets down, asked umpire Carlos Bernardes to stop play because of the gloom on Phillipe Chatrier Court.

Monfils, who took the first two sets 6-2, 6-4, was keen to go on and both players remonstrated at the net before Fognini finally walked back to the baseline to serve.
Fognini was given a time penalty point and he resumed at 0-15 down and with dozens of boisterous schoolchildren screaming their suppoer for Monfils.

The Italian saved two break points before going 15-40 in the following game but his arm got tight as he wasted a total of three match points on the Monfils serve. When Monfils levelled for 5-5 Bernandes called off play at just before 10 pm.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick came through a spirited challenge from Slovenian Blaz Kavcic to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 and book his place in the third round.In a match disrupted by two rain breaks, the pair sparred in a contest which saw 17 breaks of serve before Roddick's experience came through after two hours and 57 minutes.
The American will now play Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili for a chance to equal his career best run to the fourth round last year.

Results (second round, prefix denotes seeding):
Men’s singles: 6-Andy Roddick (US) bt Blaz Kavcic (Slo) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Fabio Fognini (Ita) bt 13-Gael Monfils (Fra) 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7; 25-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Marcel Granollers (Esp) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-2; Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) bt Grega Zemlja (Slo) 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
Women’s singles: 5-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp) 6-2, 7-6 (3); 4-Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Anastasia Rodionova (Aus) bt 21-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 6-4, 6-4; Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) bt 8-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 7-5, 6-3; Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) bt 32-Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-4, 6-1; 7-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Sophie Ferguson (Aus) 6-2, 6-2; Jarmila Groth (Aus) bt Kimiko Date Krumm (Jpn) 6-0, 6-3; 28-Alisa Kleybanova (Rus) bt Ana Ivanovic (Ser) 6-3, 6-0; 11-Li Na (Chn) bt Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (Fra) 6-2, 6-2.