Kuznetsova, Safina, Mauresmo Lead 1st Round Winners At Rain-Soaked French Open

Paris, France (AHN) - Several women's seeds advanced without a hitch on Tuesday even as the rain-soaked French Open resumed its first-round action without any forecasts of a bright and sunny day at Roland Garros.

The rain persisted all over the sport's second Grand Slam event of the year and, for the third straight time, no schedule was completed as inclement weather hampered hostilities on the women's side.

Two seeded Russians, a local bet and several ranked hopefuls breezed through to the next round. No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova cleared the clay courts with relative ease, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Japanese Aiko Nakamura. No. 13 Dinara Safina also advanced by beating Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 6-3.

France's own Amerie Mauresmo got a scare against a determined Olga Savchuk but nonetheless prevailed in the end via a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 decision.

Polish Agnieszka Radwanska, seeded 14th, also marched to the next round with an easy 6-4, 6-3 win over Mariya Koryttseva. Another seeded player, No. 31 Ai Sugiyama, recovered in time to nail Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 for a place in Round 2.

Three other matches were played on Tuesday with Sabine Lisicki, Jarmila Gajdosova and Carla Suarez Navarro safely through the second round.

Some 30 matches were called off following the rainy weather, with new no. 1 Maria Sharapova yet to make her clay debut against Evgeniya Rodina. Their match was rescheduled for Wednesday.

No. 6 seed Anna Chakvetadze, no. 7 Elena Dementieva and 9th-seeded Marion Bartoli were also to make their French Open debuts on Wednesday.