Paris, May 30: Top seed Lleyton Hewitt battled past rising Russian talent Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 4-6 6-3 7-6 to reach the third round of the French Open. The Australian appeared to have the match under control early on but lost his concentration and his winning touch in the second set to allow the 21-year-old Davydenko back into the contest at Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday (May 29). The nerves crept in again as Hewitt was attempting to close out the match and he wasted three match points on his serve in the fourth set before finally clinching it in the tiebreak 7-5. Hewitt, a loser in the fourth round last year, will meet either Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman or Tommy Robredo for a place in the last 16. Newly-wed Lindsay Davenport bounced Iroda Tulyaganova out of the tournament, beating the Uzbek 7-5 6-1 to reach the third round. The American sixth seed, who married on a Hawaiian beach last month, also played Tulyaganova in January's Australian Open. That had been a tense three-set affair but Davenport made shorter work of her opponent here. After staunch resistance in the opening set, Tulyaganova succumbed to Davenport's superior power on centre court.


Davenport, a former world number one, will next face either France's Nathalie Dechy or Gala Leon Garcia of Spain.



Venus Williams slipped into the third round with a less-than- convincing 6-3 4-6 6-2 victory over Evie Dominikovic. Runner-up to younger sister Serena in the final here last year, Venus is seeded third this time.



Looking a little disinterested at times, Venus allowed Australian Dominikovic to dominate for chunks of the match but eventually pulled through. She will next face either Italy's Silvia Farina Elia or Czech Zuzana Ondraskova.


Spain's Fernando Vicente won the last match of the day on Court Philippe Chatrier, comfortably beating crowd favourite Sebastien Grosjean of France in straight sets 7-6 6-3 6-3.


Bureau Report