Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic reached the third round at the French Open on Thursday, one easing through her match and the other playing through pain. On the men's side, No. 7 James Blake lost to 19-year-old Ernests Gulbis of

JELENA Jankovic and Venus Williams each enjoyed a straight-sets triumph to advance to the third roundof the French Open.

TOP seed Maria Sharapova admitted she only had herself to blame as she came perilously close to becoming the first high-profile casualty in this year's French Open.

ANDY MURRAY proved to himself he can play on clay when he raced into the third round of the French Open.

SAMANTHA Stosur has marked her return to grand slam tennis with a fantastic victory against No.17 seed Shahar Peer in the first round of the French Open.

RAFAEL Nadal has comfortably extended his perfect record at Roland Garros to step closer to emulating Bjorn Borg as the only man to win the French Open in four successive years.

ON A day when a gusting wind played tricks on the world's finest tennis players Andy Murray rustled up something of a whirlwind of his own.