Sharapova survives tough first-round match

PARIS -- Start with this statistic on a busy, blustery day at Roland Garros: Maria Sharapova hit 17 double-faults.

She hammered hard serves, and they sailed long. She tapped soft serves, and they landed in the bottom of the net. 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 did regroup 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,” said Sharapova, who placed part of the blame for her problems 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 -- Sharapova originally was to be on court Tuesday -- not a drop fell, permitting match after match after match at the clay-court major.

Other numbers of note:

Serena Williams made it to the third round for the 33rd time in 34 career Grand Slam tournaments.

Rafael Nadal improved to 22-0 at the French Open.

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.

Williams found herself trailing, 5-3, in the second set against Mathilde Johansson, a French wild-card entry. But Williams took the next four games to end it 6-2, 7-5.

Nadal began his bid to match Bjorn Borg’s four consecutive titles in 1978-81 by beating qualifier Thomaz Bellucci. A rain shower forced them to pack up and head home Tuesday tied at 1-1, and Nadal stumbled at the start Wednesday, getting broken to fall behind 2-1, then again when serving for the first set at 5-3. But he recovered nicely, winning, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

U.S. men went 5-5 in the first round, capped by victories Wednesday by Mardy Fish, Bobby Reynolds and Robby Ginepri. Fish beat Agustin Calleri of Argentina, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, and Reynolds defeated Thierry Ascione of France, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Ginepri’s match against Donald Young had to produce a U.S. winner, and it was Ginepri, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Odesnik, ranked 106th, followed up his upset of No. 29 Guillermo Canas by beating Lee Hyung-taik, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and now will take on No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who dropped only five games in his second-round win.

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At a glance

Highlights from Wednesday’s play at the French Open:

Men’s seeded winners: First round -- No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 21 Radek Stepanek, No. 25 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 26 Jarkko Nieminen, No. 27 Igor Andreev, No. 28 Ivan Ljubicic, No. 30 Dmitry Tursunov. Second round -- No. 3 Novak Djokovic, No. 10 Andy Murray, No. 18 Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 19 Nicolas Almagro.

Women’s seeded winners: First round -- No. 1 Maria Sharapova, No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, No. 7 Elena Dementieva, No. 11 Vera Zvonareva, No. 16 Victoria Azarenka, No. 18 Francesca Schiavone, No. 21 Maria Kirilenko, No. 25 Nadia Petrova, No. 26 Flavia Pennetta, No. 27 Katarina Srebotnik, No. 29 Anabel Medina Garrigues. Second round -- No. 2 Ana Ivanovic, No. 5 Serena Williams, No. 14 Agnieszka Radwanska, No. 30 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 10 Patty Schnyder.

Thursday’s featured matches: No. 1 Roger Federer vs. Albert Montanes, No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. Nicolas Devilder, No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko vs. Marat Safin. 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.