Blake, Gaudio win at French Open

Paris: James Blake matched his best showing at French Open, and all he had to do was win a single match.

Playing with the flair that has helped him crack the top 10 this year, Blake beat Paradorn Srichaphan 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the first round on Monday.

Blake lost in the second round in his three previous appearances at Roland Garros.

He is three-four this year on clay, a surface that has long vexed Americans, but he has won two hard court titles and is seeded eighth.

Paradorn also has trouble with play on clay, where he is zero-six this year and 12-33 lifetime.

Gaston Gaudio showed the steady baseline game that helped him win the championship two years ago as he beat qualifier Roko Karanusic 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

The No 10-seeded Gaudio has yet to win a tournament this year and arrived in Paris with a three-match losing streak. But he faced little resistance from Karanusic, the 180th-ranked Croatian who was playing in his first tour-level match of the year.

Karanusic's career tour record fell to 1-12, including 0-5 in majors.

Another former champion, 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, beat 17-year-old qualifier Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4. Ferrero, seeded 24th, had 45 unforced errors but also 52 winners.

Jose Acasuso, seeded No 26 and No 32 Nicolas Massu won five-setters. Acasuso edged Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 1-6, 11-9 in a match suspended in the final set on Sunday because of bad light.

Massu outlasted Xavier Malisse 6-1, 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 9-7.

Elena Likhovtseva, No 18, became the first seeded player to be eliminated. She was a a semi-finalist last year.

Karolina Sprem hit 32 winners to beat Likhovtseva 6-1, 6-1.

In the first match on center court, No 7-seeded Patty Schnyder hit nine aces and beat 17-year-old Michaella Krajicek 6-1, 6-2.

Schnyder, who hit 28 winners to nine for Krajicek, won four games at love and advanced in 57 minutes.

Francesca Schiavone, No 9, defeated Alono Bondarenko 6-4, 6-3.

In other men's play, No 13 Nicolas Kiefer improved to 6-0 against Jurgen Melzer by winning 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-1. No 21-seeded Sebastien Grosjean celebrated his 28th birthday by beating Andrei Pavel 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. No 31 Dmitry Tursunov who arrived at Paris with a 1-5 cay-court record this year, beat Jiri Novak 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.