Tennis French Open: Once more the intemperate weather in Paris threw the Roland Garros schedule into chaos with the organisers having to cancel eight evening matches after the covers came on and play was suspended late afternoon for a couple of hours. Among the casualties was the Martina Hingis match against Czech player Zuzana Ondraskova and second seed Kim Clijsters' meeting with Spain's Conchita Martinez Granados.
Luckily for Justine Henin-Hardenne, who celebrated her 24th birthday yesterday, her second-round meeting with Anastasiya Yakimova took place immediately after Lleyton Hewitt's relatively quick three-set match on court Philippe Chatrier and before the rain came down.
Again for the Belgian two-time defending champion, progress was only temporarily halted. But her 6-2, 7-5 defeat of the 19-year-old ranked 58 in the world shed little light on her ability to last the intense pace until the final weekend.
Indeed, that has been one of the conundrums in the women's draw this year. Given that eight different players have won the last eight majors, it is hard to bet on what nationalities are going to last the 15 days. It also makes it interesting and indicates that no player is totally dominant.
With Hingis coming back and not yet at the top of her game, Maria Sharapova carrying a foot injury, Venus Williams out of sorts, Serena Williams injured and Amelie Mauresmo liable to allow the French pressure to bite, you might just believe that this year Clijsters has a chance if she can stay in every game for the whole nine yards.
"No one is really dominating on tour right now, in the last two years, which is good" said Henin-Hardenne after her match. "All draws are very open, and it's very exciting."
Over the last three years, it is the fifth seed, Henin-Hardenne, who has won more Grand Slams than anyone else. In 2003 she won in Roland Garros and the US Open. Then in 2004, she added the Australian Open title and last year won in Paris for a second time.
"I had a great year in 2003 and then an amazing start in 2004. Every time I've been on the court I've been very consistent."
That is in stark contrast to the Williams sisters Venus and Serena, who redefined the physical aspect of the women's game, when they came onto the tennis scene some years ago but have struggled in recent years with injury and commitments. At one stage expected to totally dominate, Serena won the Australian Open last year but none of the majors in 2004, while Venus won Wimbledon last year but no other Grand Slam event since 2001.
