Top women seeds sail in French Open

Paris -- Two-time defending champion Justine Henin was a straight-set victor Wednesday in the second round of the French Open.

Henin and the other four -- Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic and Amelie Mauresmo -- of the other top five women's singles seeded players posted wins Wednesday and moved into the Grand Slam event's third round.

Henin, the No. 1 seed, ran her French Open winning streak to 16 matches with 7-5, 6-1 win over Tamira Paszek. She ran out to a 5-0 lead in the first set before Paszek battled back but, after a rain delay, Henin regained form.

Sharapova, the No. 2 seed, was a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) winner over Emilie Loit and Kuznetsova, the third seed, crushed Ekaterina Bychkova 6-0, 6-3. The fourth-seeded Jankovic swept by Catalina Castano 6-3, 6-3 and Mauresmo, the fifth seed, beat Laura Granville 6-0, 7-5 Wednesday.

Also in second-round play, 10th-seeded Dinara Safina beat Tzipora Obziler 6-1, 6-0 and 13th-seeded Elena Dementieva was a 7-5, 7-5 winner over Mathilde Johansson.

In first-round matches Wednesday, seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic had little trouble in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sofia Arvidsson and No. 9 Anna Chakvetadze won 6-2, 6-3 over Alicia Molik.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.