Djokovic extends winning streak

PARIS (AP):

Novak Djokovic extended his perfect season into the French Open, beating Thiemo de Bakker 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 yesterday in the first round.

The second-seeded Serb improved his 2011 record to 38-0 - and stretched his winning streak to 40 - on the second day of the tournament at Roland Garros. And he barely had to sweat doing it, breaking his Dutch opponent six times.

"I was serving really, really well and being very aggressive, using every opportunity to step into the court," Djokovic said. "I was quite in control of the match."

Roger Federer, meanwhile, joined Djokovic in the second round by beating Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3), but sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych was knocked out by French journeyman Stephane Robert in five sets.

On the women's side, top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki eliminated 40-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-0, 6-2 and defending champion Francesca Schiavone beat Melanie Oudin of the United States 6-2, 6-0.

Rafael Nadal, who is looking for his sixth French Open title, doesn't get on court until today, but Federer progressed without facing a single break point against his Spanish opponent.

"Important thing from my side was to be solid in my own serve," Federer said, which I was all the way through from start to finish."

The third-seeded Federer, who completed a career Grand Slam at Roland Garros two years ago, lost in the quarter-finals last year to end a streak of 23 straight major semi-final appearances.

Berdych, who last year reached the semi-finals at the French Open and the final at Wimbledon, was knocked out by the 140th-ranked Robert 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7.

"Maybe it's too early to analyse how was that or what was happening on the court," Berdych said, "that's what can happen in the long matches, and ... sadly it happened to me today."

Date-Krumm made her debut at Roland Garros in 1989, a year before Wozniacki was born. She retired in 1996 and made her return 12 years later.

In the next round, Wozniacki will face Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, who beat Junri Namigata, 6-1, 6-1.

No. 3 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 9 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, No. 16 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, No. 25 Maria Kirilenko of Russia, No. 28 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, No. 29 Peng Shuai of China and No. 30 Roberta Vinci of Italy also advanced.