french open

Russia's Maria Sharapova clenches her fist after defeating fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, a teenager making her Grand Slam debut, 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 in a first-round match at Roland Garros. ( Christophe Ena, The Associated Press )
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PARIS — 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 regrouped 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,"
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View slide show of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris 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, not a drop fell at the clay-court major. That meant match after match after match, 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. After trailing 5-3 in the second set against Mathilde Johansson, a French wild-card entry, Williams took the next four games to end it 6-2, 7-5.
• Rafael Nadal improved to 22-0 at the French Open. The Spaniard ousted qualifier Thomaz Bellucci 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.
• A year after U.S. men went 0-9 in Paris, five reached the second round, and one, Wayne Odesnik, already moved into the third. Odesnik beat Lee Hyung-taik 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and next will face No. 3 Novak Djokovic.
At a glance
A look at the French Open on Wednesday:
Men's upset losers: First round — No. 20 Ivo Karlovic, No. 23 Juan Carlos Ferrero. Second round — No. 11 Tomas Berdych
Women's upset losers: First round — No. 9 Marion Bartoli, No. 17 Shahar Peer, No. 20 Sybille Bammer
Stat of the day: 1 — Games lost by Maria Kirilenko in her 6-1, 6-0 victory over Maria Elena Camerin.
Quote of the day: "Everyone seems to want to beat me." — Serena Williams, after her 6-2, 7-5 victory over Mathilde Johansson
On court today: Men — No. 1 Roger Federer vs. Albert Montanes, No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. Nicolas Devilder, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko vs. Marat Safin. Women — No. 1 Maria Sharapova vs. Bethanie Mattek, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic vs. Marina Erakovic, No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Vania King, No. 8 Venus Williams vs. Selima Sfar.