Serena, Venus advance; Kuznetsova ousted

Paris -- Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova dropped a three-set, third-round French Open match Friday to Maria Kirilenko.

Kirilenko, the No. 30 seed, got a crucial break of serve in the third set in defeating the sixth-seeded Kuznetsova 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Kuznetsova had 36 winners but also 37 unforced errors.

Earlier, top-seeded sisters Serena and Venus Williams each advanced out of the second round with straight-set wins.

Serena Williams, the world No. 1-ranked woman player, routed Julia Georges 6-1, 6-1 in 55 minutes. Williams committed just four unforced errors -- Georges had 20 -- and faced just one break-point situation.

Venus Williams, No. 2 in the world, took out No. 26-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-4. Williams won 79 percent of the points on serve and jumped on Cibulkova's second serve, winning 74 percent of those opportunities.

Third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki defeated Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3, 6-4 and No. 5 Elena Dementieva beat Aleksandra Wozniak 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4 in third-round matches.

No. 17-seeded Francesca Schiavone knocked off 11th-seeded Na Li 6-4, 6-2 and No. 14 Flavia Pennetta routed Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-0, also in the third round.

The finish of the final match of the day, also a third-rounder, was moved ahead to Saturday after No. 15 Aravane Rezai and 19th-seeded Nadia Petrova played more than 3 hours and were tied and 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-7 when the match was suspended.

Unseeded Chanelle Scheepers also made it to the fourth round, defeating Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3, 6-3.

Samantha Stosur, seeded seventh, rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Rossana de los Rios in the second round.

No. 22-seeded Justine Henin, who won the event three consecutive times before her retirement in 2008, got past Klara Zakopalova 6-3, 6-3. Henin is still having trouble getting her first serve in -- landing less than half Friday, but still only had her serve broken once.

In other second-round matches, No. 12-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 6-3; 13th-seed Marion Bartoli took out Olivia Sanchez 7-5, 6-2; 23rd-seeded Daniela Hantuchova beat Olga Govortsova 7-5, 6-3; and No. 29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won 6-4, 6-1 over Jill Craybas.

Anastasia Pivovarova eliminated 25th-seeded Jie Zheng 6-4, 6-3 in an early upset.

Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).

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