Paris: Marat Safin easily advanced to the second round of the French Open, beating Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday before rain halted play on the opening day of the tournament.
The two-time Grand Slam champion from Russia, who lost in the first round last year but reached the semifinals in 2002, served two aces in his opening service game and won eight straight games until Vicente broke him in the third game of the second set.
The 22nd-seeded Safin converted eight of 14 break points on center court, and his confidence showed in the first game of the third set. His attempted drop shot was too short, giving Vicente an easy winner. But instead of trying to retrieve the hot, SafIn turned his back and walked away.
Safin, who has not won back-to-back matches since March, won on Vicente's second double fault. Vicente stretched his losing streak to 12 matches.
Serena Williams struggled early against 91st-ranked Tsvetana Pironkva of Bulgaria, losing three of her first four service games to trail 5-2, but rain eventually halted play at 6-5 with Pironkova serving for the set for the third time.
Williams, the surprise Australian Open champion earlier this year, rallied to get back to 5-5 as the rain began.
Despite pleas to stop the match, Williams served in the 11th game and Pironkova broke again.
Later today, top-ranked Justine Henin was to play Elena Vesnina of Russia, while Venus Williams was up against Alize Cornet of France.
On the men's side, Australian Open finalist Fernando Gonzalez and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero will be in action.
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