Three-time champion Monica Seles and last year's runner-up Kim Clijsters both struggled into the second round of the women's singles at the French Open today as the rain and cold once again played havoc with the schedule at Roland Garros.
Belgian Justine Henin however was a shock first round casualty with the fifth seed crashing to Hungarian qualifier Aniko Kapros.
Henin, a former junior French Open champion and semi-finalist last year, went out 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 in 1hr 52min to 18-year-old Kapros, ranked just 179th in the world.
Seles, 28, the winner for three successive years from 1990-1992 and a finalist in 1998, saw off the determined challenge of Spain's Angeles Montolio 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-0 in 97 minutes and will now face either Germany's Barbara Rittner or Petra Mandula in the next round.
In the men's singles, Britain's Tim Henman looked a far more competent player on clay than he has been in recent seasons as he overcame a first set 4-1 deficit, and two service breaks, to fight back and beat Spanish clay court specialist Galo Blanco 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6).
Henman, seeded six, now faces Xavier Malisse of Belgium who knocked out Alexander Popp of Germany 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
Henman was joined in the next round by Jiri Novak, the 14th seeded Czech, who beat Russia's Mikhael Youzhny 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5). Novak next meets German qualifier Jens Knippschild.
Two former men's champions made it through to the next round. Spain's 1998 winner Carlos Moya, seeded 17, beat Peru's Ramon Delgado 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 while Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the 1996 champion and number five seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated Tomas Behrend, a German qualifier, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1.
Clijsters, 18, the number four seed from Belgium, looked completely unconvincing as she took 2hr 8min to see off world number 67 Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 to book a second round clash against Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.
AFP