Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, French star Amelie Mauresmo and former Roland Garros titlist Justine Henin-Hardenne were among Thursday's second-round winners at the French Open.
The second-seeded Sharapova whipped French wild card Aravance Rezai 6-3, 6-2 on a hot, sunny day in Paris. The Russian sensation will encounter her countrywoman Anna Chakvetadze in the round of 32.
A third-seeded Mauresmo, a former world No. 1, mauled 15-year-old fellow Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-0, 6-2. Mauresmo's next opponent will be 29th- seeded Ana Ivanovic, a promising 17-year-old from Serbia-Montenegro.
The sizzling Henin-Hardenne, seeded 10th here, won her 19th straight match by pasting veteran Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-4. The three-time Grand Slam titlist and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Henin-Hardenne is now a brilliant 22-1 overall this season, including a perfect 19-0 record on clay.
Henin-Hardenne required some treatment for a sore back that bothered her serve on Day 4, but said she doesn't anticipate any problems in her next match.
The former world No. 1 Belgian captured this French major in 2003.
Up next for Henin-Hardenne will be hot Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, who won her seventh straight match on Thursday by dismissing Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva 6-3, 6-4. Medina Garrigues is fresh off her clay-court title in Strasbourg last week.
In action involving top-eight Russians, No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova handled Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-4 and No. 7 Nadia Petrova pasted France's Severine Beltrame 6-1, 6-3. The athletic Kuznetsova is the reigning U.S. Open champ.
In other top-16 play, 12th-seeded Russian Elena Bovina held off Italian Tathiana Garbin 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 and No. 13 Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy bested Aussie Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-3. Dechy was an Aussie Open semifinalist back in January.
Another French crowd favorite moved into the third round, as 17th-seeded 17- year-old Tatiana Golovin destroyed Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti 6-0, 6-1.
Other seeded winners on Day 4 were No. 22 Italian Francesca Schiavone and the aforementioned Ivanovic.
One other mild upset came American Marissa Irvin took out 30th-seeded Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4, 7-5.
Additional wins came for Israeli Shahar Peer, German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives and Chakvetadze.
The third round will get underway here on Friday, including matches for top- seeded American Lindsay Davenport, 2004 French Open runner-up Elena Dementieva, 2002 runner-up Venus Williams and two-time finalist Kim Clijsters.
The Australian Open runner-up Davenport will tangle with French crowd favorite Virginie Razzano, while the fourth-seeded Dementieva will face Japanese Akiko Morigami, the 11th-seeded Williams will encounter 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva and the 14th-seeded Clijsters will oppose 20th-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Dementieva gave way to Anastasia Myskina in last year's all-Russian finale here, while Williams lost to her younger sister Serena in the '02 final and Clijsters came up short in the 2001 and 2003 championship matches.
Former French Open champion Mary Pierce, seeded 21st at this fortnight, will meet ninth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva on Day 5. The two-time Grand Slam titlist Pierce, of France, ran the table here in 2000.