| GEO Sports | | Marat Safin, Ivanovic advance into second round of French Open | Updated at: 1008 PST, Monday, May 25, 2009
 PARIS: The former top-ranked Frenchwoman exited early from yet another French Open tournament, this time losing in the first round to Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 6-3.
Defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic and third-seeded Andy Murray advanced to the second round on the opening day of play.
On Monday, defending men's champion Rafael Nadal and three-time finalist Roger Federer are scheduled to play. Top-seeded Dinara Safina and Venus Williams are to play in the women's draw.
Ivanovic struggled on the important points in the opening match on center court, but she still managed to beat Sara Errani of Italy 7-6 (3), 6-3.
The 19th-seeded Estonian fell to Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-2.
Also, ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, No. 11 Nadia Petrova of Russia, No. 25 Li Na of China, No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia and No. 32 Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic advanced.
Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia saved eight match points before finally beating Mathilde Johansson of France 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.
On the men's side, Murray overcame some brief early jitters to beat Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
Ivo Karlovic set a tour-level record for aces with 55 in his 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 loss to Lleyton Hewitt.
Marat Safin, another of the eight former Grand Slam singles champions in the men's field, also advanced. The Russian beat Alexandre Sidorenko of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Seventh-seeded Gilles Simon, No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia, No. 14 David Ferrer of Spain, No. 18 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic and No. 31 Nicolas Almagro of Spain also advanced.
Stepanek defeated 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-3, 6-4, 6-1, while Simon hung on to beat Wayne Odesnik of the United States 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. |  |
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