Paris - Venus Williams had to save a match point before completing a heard-earned 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 victory over Lucie Safarova into the third round of the French Open on a grey Thursday in a match interrupted the night before. The American escaped the Czech after a battle and joined former number one Jelena Jankovic in moving through.
The Serb fifth seed won 15 of the first 17 points in her rout of Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1, 6-2, coming from a break down in the second set and concluding with a break.
Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russian was another easy winner, taking out Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakstan 6-0, 6-2.
It was similarly simple for Danish number 10 Caroline Wozniacki as she crushed American veteran Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4.
The only seed to go out in early play was former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, with the French number 13 losing to Italian Tathian Garbin, 6-3, 7-5.
Jankovic said she was pleased with her current form compared with only weeks ago.
"It was really disastrous, I was moving terrible, making so many errors. My game was completely off, as well as my confidence."
The Serb is a two-time Roland Garros semi-finalist, reaching the last four over the past tow years. She finished 2008 at number one but has since slid to fifth.
"I want to get back to that spotlight. It's a matter of playing good tennis and having fun out there. That's the most important thing.
"You need to enjoy, you need to enjoy the battle. You need to enjoy the challenges, you need to enjoy everything. You need to go to the courts with a smile on your face," said Jankovic.
