PARIS — Bethanie Mattek-Sands skipped backward across the clay, her wagging tongue framed by a smile as she savored yet another surprising victory for American tennis at the French Open. Rejuvenated by a rain delay, Mattek-Sands rallied past 2011 champion Li Na 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at Roland Garros Thursday. Following the second interruption of the match, Mattek-Sands swept seven consecutive games to take a 5-0 lead in the final set. She served out the victory with the sun shining as rain fell. “She's a champion, and I had to play some of my best tennis ever to beat her,” Mattek-Sands said. In men's play, six-time major champion Novak Djokovic gestured at threatening clouds between points, trying to keep them away, and managed to finish his drubbing of Guido Pella of Argentina, 6-2, 6-0, 6-2. With five more victories Djokovic would become the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam. With this win he set-up a mouth-watering clash with Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov. The 26th seeded Bulgarian will be playing in the last 32 of a major for the first time after breezing past French wildcard Lucas Pouille, the world number 324, in straight sets 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. No. 3 Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion in each of the past two years, beat Annika Beck of Germany 6-4, 6-3. The 20-year-old Sloane Stephens, who defeated fellow American Vania King 6-1, 6-3. Former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic won 12 consecutive games to beat the rain and Garbine Muguruza of Spain. Jankovic fell behind early but rallied past Muguruza 6-3, 6-0 shortly before showers interrupted the first matches of the day on 12 other courts. A brief dry spell allowed 2010 runner-up Sam Stosur to complete a second-round victory over Kristina Mladenovic of France, 6-4, 6-3, before the rain resumed. No. 27 Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan lost to Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-4, 7-6 (6). Jankovic, seeded 18th, is a three-time semifinalist at Roland Garros. She'll next play 2011 US Open champion Stosur. Japanese 13th seed Kei Nishikori made the third round for the first time with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over Grega Zemlja of Slovenia. China's Zheng Jie also reached the last 32 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Melanie Oudin of the United States. But Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova ended the hopes of another Chinese player, Peng Shuai, winning 6-4, 6-3. She will next face Jamie Hampton of the United States. New Zealand's Marina Erakovic, the world 92, put out Slovak 16th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the third round for the first time. Former champion Ana Ivanovic moved into the third round Wednesday by beating Mathilde Johansson, 6-2, 6-2. Sara Errani, the 2012 runner-up to Maria Sharapova, beat Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-1. — Agencies
