May 31, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428

PARIS, May 30: Venus Williams unleashed the fastest serve by a woman at a Grand Slam as the American kept the Stars and Stripes fluttering at the French Open on Wednesday.

Just hours after Robby Ginepri's 6-4, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Argentina's Diego Hartfield condemned the US men to their worst showing at Roland Garros in at least 40 years, Williams lit up a dank court one with a 206 kph thunderbolt.

The milestone, a shade slower than Brenda Schultz-McCarthy's overall record of 209 kph hit in qualifying in Cincinnati last July, made up for an otherwise unimpressive 6-1, 7-6 second-round victory over fellow American Ashley Harkleroad.

“I loved it. I lost my focus a little bit because I saw the 206,” said Williams, who had let slip a 5-1 lead in the second set.

“I was so excited because I broke my record.”

The five-time Grand Slam champion cannot afford any such lapses in the next round as she will be up against in-form Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic.

The last of nine US male competitors to fall in Paris, Ginepri's exit also meant that for first time in 34 years that no American men had reached the second round of one of the four majors.

Champion Justine Henin failed to get distracted by a 70-minute rain disruption and romped to a 7-5, 6-1 win over Austian Tamira Paszek.

Maria Sharapova showed there was no room for sentiment when she led a batch of Russian seeds into the second round.

Playing under menacing clouds and in a rush to get off court before the heavens opened again, the world No 2 was in unforgiving mood as local darling Emilie Loit hobbled around the court with a thigh strain.

Sharapova made light of her own patched-up shoulder as she powered to a 6-3, 7-6 victory. She was joined in the last 64 by 2006 runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova and ninth seed Anna Chakvetadze, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Australia's Alicia Molik.

Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo began her 13th tilt at winning her home Grand Slam with a 6-0, 7-5 triumph over American Laura Granville.

Kuznetsova avenged one of the most painful defeats of her career when she blew fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova off court 6-0, 6-3.

The third seed was humiliated by Bychkova at the 2005 US Open when she became the first defending champion to lose in the opening round.

Fast forward two years and Bychkova felt the full force of Kuznetsova's wrath.

The roller-coaster careers of another pair of Russians, former champion Anastasia Myskina and 22nd seed Marat Safin, took another nosedive.

Making her comeback after undergoing foot surgery in January, Myskina was embarrassed 6-1, 6-0 by American Meghann Shaughnessy.

Myskina, the first Russian woman to lift a Grand Slam title when she triumphed here in 2004, almost skipped the tournament.

She probably wished she had missed her flight out of Moscow as she has not won a match since last August.

Safin raged, rolled in the red dirt and smashed a racket but his histrionics could not prevent a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 mauling by Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.

Rafael Nadal began his quest for a rare French Open treble late on Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory over former sparring partner Juan Martin Del Potro.

Meanwhile, world No 2 Nadal, attempting to become the first man to win three successive titles at Roland Garros since Bjorn Borg in 1980, overcame a first-set challenge and then turned on the power to cruise through to the second round.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Second round: 13-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-3, 6-0, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) beat 11-Richard Gasquet (France) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 6-1; 9-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Konstantinos Economidis (Greece) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) beat 22-Marat Safin (Russia) 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.

First round: 6-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) beat 10-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 7-5, 6-4, 6-4; Oscar Hernandez (Spain) beat Juan Pablo Guzman (Argentina) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-2.

Women’s singles results:

Second round: 1-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Tamira Paszek (Austria) 7-5, 6-1; 26-Venus Williams (US) beat Ashley Harkleroad (US) 6-1, 7-6 (10-8); 13-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Mathilde Johansson (France) 7-5, 7-5; 28-Mara Santangelo (Italy) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-3, 6-2; 20-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) 6-0, 6-3; 10-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Tzipora Obziler (Israel) 6-1, 6-0.

First round: Olga Poutchkova (Russia) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3; Nicole Pratt (Australia) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; 25-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukraine) 6-4, 6-3; Sania Mirza (India) beat Alberta Brianti (Italy) 6-1, 6-1; 14-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Martina Sucha (Slovakia) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) beat Youlia Fedossova (France) 6-3, 6-2; Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) beat Julia Schruff (Germany) 6-1, 6-4; 12-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-1; Katerina Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Zuzana Ondraskova (Czech Republic) 6-0, 6-1;

Nathalie Dechy (France) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0; 24-Anabel Medina (Spain) beat Varvara Lepchenko (Uzbekistan) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2; 2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Emilie Loit (France) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Jill Craybas (US) beat Lourdes Dominguez (Spain) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Agnes Szavay (Hungary) beat Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) 7-5, 6-2; Vera Dushevina (Russia) beat Camille Pin (France) 6-4, 6-4; 21-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Eva Birnerova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4; 9-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 6-2, 6-3; Karin Knapp (Italy) beat Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 6-1, 6-1; 17-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 6-1, 6-3; 15-Shahar Peer (Israel) beat Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) 6-1, 6-3; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Ekaterina Bychkova (Russia) 6-0, 6-3; Edina Gallovits (Romania) beat Vasilisa Bardina (Russia) 6-0, 4-0 – Bardina retired; Meghann Shaughnessy (US) beat Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 6-1, 6-0; 22-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) 6-0, 6-1; 7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) beat Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) 6-2, 6-0.

Tuesday’s remaining results:

Men’s singles:

First round: Laurent Recouderc (France) beat Sam Querrey (US) 7-6, (7-4), 2-6, 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Peter Luczak (Australia) 6-7 (4-7), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) beat 26-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5; Gilles Simon (France) beat Vince Spadea (US) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat 8-James Blake (US) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5; Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) beat Robert Kendrick (US) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; Florent Serra (France) beat Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 6-3, 6-0, 6-2; 2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 7-5, 6-3, 6-2; Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) beat 24-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-2, 5-7, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3; Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat Marc Gicquel (France) 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jan Hajek (Czech Republic) beat Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3); Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat 31-Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; 28-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) beat Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, 17-15; 20-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Kristian Pless (Denmark) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); Ivan Navarro (Spain) beat Boris Pasanski (Serbia) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4; Nicolas Massu (Chile) beat Luis Horna (Peru) 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2.—Reuters