Del Potro shrugs off Montanes to go thru in Paris PARIS — Major champions Sam Stosur and Svetlana Kuznetsova quickly made their way into the second round of the French Open Sunday, both winning in straight sets on the opening day of the clay-court tournament. The sixth-seeded Stosur, who won last year's US Open title and reached the final at Roland Garros in 2010, beat Elena Baltacha of Britain 6-4, 6-0 in the first match on the tournament's main court. “It's a bit of an early start, but always nice to get through it now,” the Australian said. “You have the whole day and whatever else to recover and, yeah, enjoy.” Kuznetsova won the French Open title in 2009 and the US Open in 2004 but is seeded No. 26 this year. Against Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, the Russian faced little trouble despite being broken twice in the second set. She won 6-1, 6-3. No. 10 Angelique Kerber of Germany and No. 20 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic also advanced to the second round, along with American players Melanie Oudin and Irina Falconi. Argentine ninth seed Juan Martin del Potro also reached the second round with a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1 win over Spain's Albert Montanes. Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, faces France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin for a place in the last 32. None of the top three men was in action in Paris on opening day, but former major champion Andy Roddick was on the schedule. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be on court Monday, while Rafael Nadal is slated to begin his attempt for a record-breaking seventh French Open title Tuesday. Fabio Fognini of Italy became the first man to advance, beating Adrian Mannarino of France 6-0, 7-5, 6-1. No. 21 Marin Cilic of Croatia was next, defeating Daniel Munoz-De la Nava of Spain 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, also moved into the second round. The Spaniard beat Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy of France 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. “I don't think it's too big a deal now that it's more of a proper schedule,” Stasur said. “I think the first year there was only a handful of matches, and, yeah, if you were on the schedule then, it really didn't feel like the tournament started. Nobody else was thinking that the tournament had started.” Stosur converted five of her eight break points, and only briefly allowed Baltacha back into the match by being broken while serving for the first set at 5-3. The Australian broke right back to take the set. In the second set, Baltacha won only four points on her serve, allowing Stosur to advance easily. Kuznetsova raced through the first set of her match, and then held on to win the second to reach the next round. After leading 3-0 in the second set, Lucic broke twice to get back to 3-3, but Kuznetsova then won the next three games to take the match. The 30-year-old Lucic reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1999, but she is now 11-44 against players ranked in the top 30 in her career. Almagro wins Nice In France, Spain's Nicolas Almagro got the perfect boost ahead of the French Open by ending the magical claycourt run of American qualifier Brian Baker 6-3, 6-2 to successfully defend his Nice Open title Sunday. It was Almagro's second tournament win of the year and the 12th of his career. Radwanska bags 10th title Polish top seed Agnieszka Radwanska won her 10th career title on Saturday when she defeated Romania's Simona Halep 7-5, 6-0 in the final of the Brussels Clay-court Tournament. For 20-year-old Halep, it was a third defeat in three finals having been beaten in Fes in 2010 and 2011. Schiavone ends drought Francesca Schiavone beat Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-4 in the Strasbourg International final Saturday to win her first title of the year and fifth of her career. The 2010 French Open champion proved too strong for Cornet, improving her overall record against her to 8-1. Serbia wins Team World Cup In Duesseldorf, Germany, Serbia overcame the Czech Republic in the final of the World Team Cup Saturday to clinch the title for the second time. Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki won their singles matches to give Serbia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The No. 8-ranked Tipsarevic was first off the mark when he snapped a three-match losing streak against the No. 7-ranked Tomas Berdych with a 7-5, 7-6 (8) victory. Then Troicki recovered from a terrible opening set to beat Radek Stepanek 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. The doubles match to be played later will have no bearing on the final result, leaving Serbia to celebrate its first title since 2009.
