Sharapova in the pink after French Open win

PARIS (Reuters) – Maria Sharapova emerged unscathed from an all-Russian battle against Ksenia Pervak on the rain-interrupted second day of the French Open on Monday.

The seventh seed and 2012 champion blew kisses to the crowd after she won 6-1 6-2 on the Philippe Chatrier show court.

Japanese ninth seed Kei Nishikori, coached by 1989 Roland Garros champion Michael Chang, crumbled to a 7-6(4) 6-1 6-2 defeat by Slovakia’s Martin Klizan after serving for the first set at 5-3.

The left-handed Klizan, who took a set off eventual champion Rafael Nadal here last year, broke back and took the subsequent tiebreak 7-4.

Nishikori, who was on the verge of beating Spain’s Nadal on clay in Madrid before retiring injured in the final, all but collapsed in the following two sets and a netted return of serve gave Klizan victory.

Ninth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat France’s Virginie Razzano 7-5 6-0 and there were also wins for seeds Sabine Lisicki, last year’s losing Wimbledon finalist, and Flavia Pennetta, the winner at Indian Wells this year.

Play got underway on day two more than an hour late due to light rain and Sharapova would have been relieved with her quick workout as further showers delayed the start of the next match on the main showcourt, featuring second seed Novak Djokovic and Joao Sousa of Portugal.

That match was then suspended due to heavy rain with Djokovic 4-1 up in the first set.

The women’s warmup featured Sharapova in fetching pink and Pervak in what looked like army camouflage trousers and jacket. Once the match started, her fighting spirit proved insufficient to trouble Sharapova.

Winner of the Stuttgart and Madrid claycourt titles, Sharapova went on the attack early, moving her left-handed compatriot around the court to break at the first opportunity.

But a wild volley at the net, with the whole court open, allowed Pervak to break back before Sharapova finally emerged with a 4-1 lead and took the set in 27 minutes.

Sharapova broke early in the second set and while Pervak kept defeat at bay in her final service game, she handed Sharapova victory when she hit a return of serve too long.

Sharapova showed she had fully recovered from her thrashing by Ana Ivanovic in the third round in Rome, winning 92 percent of points on first serve.

(Reporting By Robert Woodward, editing by Pritha Sarkar)