It turned out to be third time lucky for Rafael Nadal on Wednesday as the torrential downpours finally relented at the French Open and allowed the three-time champion to complete a belated first-round win.Nadal, however, made heavy weather of the first set before recording a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 win over Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci.The Spaniard, unbeaten at Roland Garros since making his debut in 2005, had been scheduled to play his match on Monday but had to go back to his hotel without hitting a ball.He managed to contest only two games on Tuesday before rain again played spoilsport and cut short the day’s action. Resuming at 1-1 on Wednesday the Spaniard got a nasty surprise when he realised that swirling winds had replaced the rain, creating a sandstorm on Philippe Chatrier Court.“The conditions are very, very bad today. The winds were terrible on Centre Court,” grumbled Nadal, who will have to be back on Thursday in second-round action.Nadal was quickly drawn into an 11-minute tussle in the first game after the restart. Try as he might, and despite flexing his bulging muscles between each point, Nadal could not intimidate an opponent making his Grand Slam debut and promptly dropped his serve.But if Bellucci had started harbouring hopes of causing an upset, they did not last long. Although he never hit top gear during the contest which lasted two hours and 34 minutes in actual court time, Nadal eventually coasted to victory when Bellucci smacked a backhand long.Sharapova hangs onHOWEVER, high winds and a Grand Slam debutante almost blew out women’s top seed Maria Sharapova. She was two points away from defeat against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina before prevailing 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 in two hours and 28 minutes of windswept, frustrating action on Centre Court.Tomas Berdych became the highest men’s seed to exit when he was beaten 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 by local favourite Michael Llodra. Britain’s 10th seed Andy Murray turned what was predicted to be a potential shock into a stroll by crushing Argentina’s Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-0, 6-4 in the second round. 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero was 7-6, 2-2 up against Brazilian journeyman Marcos Daniel when he called it a day wth a right leg injury. Novak Djokovic booked a place in round three at the expense of Spaniard Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen, needing just 80 minutes to book his last-32 place with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win. After three days of rain, Australian 25th seed and twice grand slam winner Lleyton Hewitt prospered with the sun on his back, sending another home hope crashing with a 6-4 6-2 6-4 win over Nicolas Mahut.Serena Williams ran into a spot of bother before downing France’s Mathilde Johansson 6-2, 7-5, while Ana Ivanovic made light work of Lucie Safarova, winning 6-1, 6-2. Fifth seed Serena will meet either Russian Ekaterina Makarova or Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik for a last-16 spot.
