Djokovic and Schiavone hurry into round two

Tuesday, 24 May 2011 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

(Reuters) - French Open title hopefuls Novak Djokovic and Francesca Schiavone gave the Roland Garros crowd a glimpse only of their abilities on Monday as they sped into the second round on a hot, sunny day.

Second seed Djokovic extended his winning streak to 40 matches with a 6-2 6-1 6-3 dismissal of Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker while defending champion Schiavone raced past American Melanie Oudin 6-2 6-0.

Djokovic’s path ahead became less challenging after possible quarter-final opponent Tomas Berdych became the first big casualty in the men’s singles. The Czech sixth seed, a semi-finalist last year, slumped to a shock 3-6 3-6 6-2 6-2 9-7 defeat against French qualifier Stephane Robert.

Berdych appeared to be in control before the world number 140 began to sprinkle Court Two with forehand winners.

“That’s tennis. That’s what can happen in the long matches. Sadly it happened to me today,” said Berdych, who wasted a match point.

Third seed Roger Federer was given a decent workout before seeing off Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 7-6.

“I thought I played a good match, even though it was a tough match. He had a couple of small chances but could not convert those,” said the Swiss.

Djokovic, unbeaten this year, made light work of the talented De Bakker, peppering the court with forehand winners and mixing his game with cunning drop shots.

The Serbian, who has beaten five-times French Open champion Rafael Nadal twice on clay this season, faces a possible third-round encounter with 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.

The Argentine, who has been recovering from a torn hip muscle, recovered from a shaky start to down Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-4.

Schiavone was as convincing as Djokovic.