TENNIS/French Open Day four results:What Maria Sharapova would give to have the serve of Venus Williams for the next 10 days.
As the second seed returned from her injury-induced two month lay-off, replete with diaphanous cocktail dress and burning ambition, it was the 26th-seeded American, also on a return from a wrist problem, who scorched down the hardest serve ever delivered by a woman in a Grand Slam main draw.
Williams's 128.8 mph (206 kph) drive into the deuce court in the second set of her two-set victory over her US compatriot Ashley Harkleroad sent her into a fit of giggles as the speed flashed up on the courtside radar clock.
Williams knew immediately she had pocketed the record, though afterwards she seemed unaware her sister Serena was the person she had taken it from.
Her younger sibling's mark of 127 mph (204.3 kph) was set in Cincinnati last year, while Barbara Schultz had clocked 126 mph this year at Indian Wells for the second-fastest.
To muddy the waters a little, the fastest all-time serve remains at 130 mph and was hit last year by Schultz during a qualifying match in Cincinnati.
So, close but no cigar for Williams in terms of the all-time best, though given her serious wrist issues over the past two years, cracking the main-draw record was quite a feat.
For Harkleroad, it was just another nail in a game that flowed mostly one way, and while Sharapova also shaped her first-round match much as she wanted against France's Emilie Loit, the shoulder problem that has kept her away from the game seems still to be affecting her service.
What the tournament didn't want was for one of their marquee names to disappear so soon and possibly prompt the headline "I fought Loit and Loit won" (think Bobby Fuller's song covered by The Clash: I Fought the Law and the Law Won).
But Sharapova was quick to dismiss suggestions she is playing at Roland Garros through the tendonitis injury and sees the clay as preparation for her favourite surface at Wimbledon.
The Russian did, however, concede she had accepted cortisone injections in order to speed the recovery process.
"My shoulder is still not where I want it to be," said Sharapova. "It is still not perfect.
"At times I still feel that it's (injury) there. Because I have a lot of respect for this tournament, I want to play it.
"As long as the doctors give me the okay, as long as I can play through the little aches and pains that I get from time to time, then I'm willing to do it."
For Williams the big serve actually broke her concentration midway through the second set and allowed Harkleroad fight back into contention before finally bowing out 6-1, 7-6 (8).
"I lost it a bit because I saw the 206 kph. I lost a bit of focus for sure," said Williams in explaining the slightly fraught finish.
"I just got overconfident. I just thought I couldn't lose. I was really glad I broke that record because when I was young I tried to hit the ball really hard and now I don't try to do that and I did."
The title holder, Justin Henin, kept her run alive in a rain-interrupted second-round match against Austria's Tamira Paszek.
Henin struggled in the first set but won it 7-5 before racing to a 6-1 second set and the match.
The fourth seed, Jelena Jankovic, also won in two sets against, Catilina Castano, 6-3, 6-3.
In the men's event two big-name seeds followed all nine of the US players out of the draw, the first time in the open era the US does not have a man past the first round.
As you might imagine, there are issues there, ones that may not have been made easier by Harkleroad's utterance from the school of tell-it-how-it-is diplomacy.
"I was talking to Roddick outside," she said. "I said to him that I thought Jimmy Connors was going to teach you how to play on clay. We're nought for 10 now I guess."
Marat Safin was in that downbeat form in his second round meeting with Janko Tipsarevic, whom some will remember from last year's Irish Open.
Tipsarevic was the top seed in Dublin, though he went out as a second-round loser to Germany's Michael Zverev in the event's highest-quality match.
The player ranked 80th in the world has now made his mark in reducing the unpredictable Safin to just three sets, winning 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in just over two-and-a-half hours.
The other casualty was the French hope Richard Gasquet, seeded 11, who fell to Belgium's Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-1.
Top seed Roger Federer was a straight-sets winner over Frenchman Thierry Ascione in the second round.
The world number one prevailed 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8), in the day's last game on Suzanne Lenglen court.
(prefix denotes seeding)
MEN'S SINGLES (first round)
Oscar Hernandez (Spa) bt Juan-Pablo Guzman (Arg) 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 6-2, (6) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Santiago Giraldo (Col) 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) bt (10) Tomas Berdych (Cze) 7-5 6-4 6-4, (12) David Ferrer (Spa) bt Daniele Bracciali (Ita) 6-1 6-1 6-2, Diego Hartfield (Arg) bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 6-4 1-6 5-7 6-4 6-2, Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 5-2 ret, (23) Carlos Moya (Spa) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-1 3-6 6-3 2-6 6-0,
Second round: Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) bt (22) Marat Safin (Rus) 6-4 6-4 7-5, (9) Tommy Robredo (Spa) bt Konstantin Economidis (Gre) 6-4 7-5 6-4, Kristof Vliegen (Bel) bt (11) Richard Gasquet (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1, (19) Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) 6-4 6-3 6-3, (13) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 6-3 6-0 6-4, (4) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Werner Eschauer (Aut) 7-5 6-3 6-1, Juan Monaco (Arg) bt (27) Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-2 6-3 6-2, Potito Starace (Ita) bt Carlos Berlocq (Arg) 6-2 6-4 6-2, (15) David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Ivan Navarro Pastor (Spa) 7-5 6-4 6-4, Gael Monfils (Fra) bt (18) Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) 3-6 6-3 6-3 6-1. Michael Llodra (Fra) bt (32) Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 2-6 6-2 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-4, (29) Filippo Volandri (Ita) bt Martin Vassalo Arguello (Arg) 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 6-2. (1) Roger Federer (Swi) bt Thierry Ascione (Fra) 6-1 6-2 7-6 (10-8), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 3-6 6-1 0-6 6-4 6-4.
WOMEN'S SINGLES (first round)
Edina Gallovitz (Rom) bt Vassilissa Bardina (Rus) 6-0 4-0 ret, (15) Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-1 6-3, (17) Katarina Srebotnik (Slo) bt Anastassia Rodionova (Rus) 6-1 6-3, Karin Knapp (Ita) bt Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 6-1 6-1, Vera Dushevina (Rus) bt Camille Pin (Fra) 6-4 6-4, (21) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 6-3 6-4, Agnes Szavay (Hun) bt Anne Kremer (Lux) 7-5 6-2, (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) 6-0 6-3, (7) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Sofia Arvidsson (Swe) 6-2 6-0, (22) Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze) 6-0 6-1, Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) bt Anastasia Myskina (Rus) 6-1 6-0, Jill Craybas (USA) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spa) 6-1 2-6 6-4. (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Emilie Loit (Fra) 6-3 7-6 (7-4), Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-0, (24) Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spa) bt Varvara Lepchenko (Uzb) 6-1 2-6 6-2, Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) bt Julia Schruff (Ger) 6-1 6-4, Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) 4-6 7-5 6-3, Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) bt Youlia Fedossova (Fra) 6-3 6-2, (12) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Jelena Kostanic Tosic (Cro) 6-3 6-1, Katerina Bondarenko (Ukr) bt Zuzana Ondraskova (Cze) 6-0 6-1. (25) Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Yulia Beygelzimer (Ukr) 6-4 6-3, Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Flavia Pennetta (Ita) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, Women's singles 1st rd: (14) Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Martina Sucha (Svk) 2-6 6-1 6-2, Olga Poutchkova (Rus) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 7-5 0-6 6-3. (29) Gisela Dulko (Arg) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) 6-4 6-3, Raluca Olaru (Rom) bt (30) Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) 6-4 6-1, (5) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Laura Granville (USA) 6-0 7-5, Melien Tu (USA) bt Romina Oprandi (Ita) 6-3 6-4, (32) Martina Muller (Ger) bt Rossana De Los Rios (Par) 6-4 6-4, Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt Tian Tian Sun (Chn) 6-4 6-4.
Second round: (13) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-5 7-5, (10) Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Tzipora Obziler (Isr) 6-1 6-0, (20) Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukr) 6-0 6-3, (26) Venus Williams (USA) bt Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 6-1 7-6 (10-8), (28) Mara Santangelo (Ita) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-3 6-2, (19) Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) 6-4 6-3, (18) Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 0-6 6-2 6-3, (23) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Swi) 6-3 7-6 (7-5), Stephanie Cohen Aloro (Fra) bt Kveta Peschke (Cze) 6-1 6-1, Michaella Krajicek (Ned) bt Shenay Perry (USA) 6-4 5-7 6-1, (4) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Catalina Castano (Col) 6-3 6-3, (1) Justine Henin (Bel) bt Tamira Paszek (Aut) 7-5 6-1, (27) Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Maria Kirilenko (Rus) 6-1 3-6 7-5. (16) Na Li (Chn) bt Pauline Parmentier (Fra) 6-3 3-6 6-4, 6) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt Akgul Amanmuradov (Uzb) 6-2 6-4.
