Rafa struggling to find feet on slippery clay

Seven-time champ drops a set in his second consecutive match

Rafael Nadal came from behind for the second match in a row on a busy Friday at the French Open,surviving another shaky start to beat Martin Klizan 4-6,6-3,6-3,6-3.

Entering the tournament,the seven-time champion had lost only 14 sets in 53 matches at the French Open. Now he has dropped the opening set in each of the first two rounds. No. 2-seeded Roger Federer was broken in the opening game but held the rest of the way and eased into the fourth round by beating No. 30 Julien Benneteau of France,6-3,6-4,7-5.

There was the usual array of running aerial forehands,gravity-defying drop shots and whipped backhands as the former world number one booked a meeting with American Sam Querrey,the 18th seed,or French 15th seed Gilles Simon.

Benneteau,the 30th seed,broke in the first game to open a 2-0 lead but 17-times grand slam champion Federer kept his cool and turned the situation around in no time. Benneteau,who has been struggling with a groin problem,bowed out on the first match point when he could not retrieve yet another Federer forehand after 91 minutes.

When Klizans final shot sailed out,Nadal gave the cheering crowd a relieved thumbs-up and managed a weak smile. I started a bit too defensive, he said. I improved a little bit during the match. Nadal also lost the first set of his opening match against Daniel Brands and was down 3-love in the second-set tiebreaker before he rallied.

The Spaniard,now 54-1 at the French Open,is seeking to become first man to win eight titles at the same Grand Slam event. Since returning in February from a seven-month layoff because of knee trouble,hes 38-2,reaching the finals at all eight tournaments he has entered and winning six.

Ol Haas good

No. 12 Tommy Haas became the first 35-year-old since 2007 to reach the French Opens third round,beating 20-year-old American qualifier Jack Sock 7-6 3,6-2,7-5. Haas next plays No. 19 John Isner,who overcame a two-set deficit for the first time in his career to win an all-American match against Ryan Harrison,5-7,6-7 7,6-3,6-1,8-6. A year to the day that he lost to local favourite Paul-Henri Mathieu in a 76-game battle,the most ever played in a mens match at Roland Garros,Isner held off young gun Harrison to win in three hours 50 minutes.

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The 19th seed looked to be on the way out after dropping the opening two sets in a second-round match held over from Thursday but struck back to grind down his 21-year-old rival.

After sealing victory,the 28-year-old was bent double after another brutal encounter and clearly relieved after ending a six-match losing sequence in matches going to five sets.

No. 4 David Ferrer reached the fourth round by beating Feliciano Lopez 6-1,7-5,6-4,and No. 7 Richard Gasquet of France swept qualifier Michal Przysiezny 6-3,6-3,6-0.

Serena keeps it short and simple

Paris: Serena Williams breezed past Sorana Cirstea 6-0 6-2 in the third round on Friday,extending her winning streak to 27 matches and laying down a marker of her title potential.

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It took eight games and 33 minutes before her 26th-seeded Romanian opponent made a mark on the scoreboard,a feat that was greeted with sympathetic cheers from the Parisian crowd. The world number one broke three times in the opening set and although she found the going tougher in the second,losing two early games and facing break points,she had too much power for Cirstea.

Williams will play Czech Petra Cetkovska or Italys Roberta Vinci in the next round. Maria Sharapova survived a string of unforced errors to book her place in the third round on Friday with a 6-2 6-4 rain-delayed win against Canadas Eugenie Bouchard.

The defending champion returned to Court Philippe Chatrier leading 6-2 4-2 after the match had been interrupted by rain late on Thursday. Despite Bouchards late fight and a total of 28 unforced errors from the Russian,Sharapova wrapped it up in 15 minutes. She will face Chinas Zheng Jie for a last-16 spot.

Sania loses

Indias Sania Mirza and her Swedish partner Robert Lindstedt crashed out in the first round of the mixed doubles event,suffering a shocking straight-set defeat at the hands of Cara Black and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi here.

Agencies