RAIN MAN

Roger Federer seeks advice from Davis Cup teammate during weather delays at French Open

Associated Press

PARIS

Apparently, even Roger Federer, with his record 16 Grand Slam titles, was in need of some advice on a wet and windy Wednesday at the French Open.

Forced off court by two rain delays, and “pushed,” as he put it, by a player with a career record below .500, Federer turned to Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi for words of wisdom during the breaks. Told to be more aggressive early, then to use more drop shots late, Federer wound up with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alejandro Falla in the second round.

“Those were good things he told me,” said the top-ranked Federer, the French Open’s defending champion for the first time. “Those little details make a crucial difference.”

The defending women’s champion, sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, encountered quite a bit more trouble than Federer — she faced four match points in the second set against 41st-ranked Andrea Petkovic and was so distraught she whacked herself in the leg with her racket.

Petkovic made matters easier with unforced groundstroke errors on all four of those chances to win, though, and Kuznetsova eventually came all the way back for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory — but not before wasting three match points of her own.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Kuznetsova said. “I saw that she got tight.”

Also into the third round was No. 2 Venus Williams, who walloped one serve at 128 mph in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Arantxa Parra Santonja.

Other winners included No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 14 Flavia Pennetta, No. 15 Aravane Rezai, No. 19 Nadia Petrova and Williams’ next opponent, No. 26 Dominika Cibulkova, a semifinalist last year.

Like Federer, Kuznetsova discussed tactics with her coach during a 1 1/2-hour rain delay, part of an odd day of stops and starts. After three days of sun and temperatures in the 80s, Wednesday’s breezes reached 15 mph, the thermometer dipped into the low 60s, and intermittent showers disrupted the schedule and changed the way the clay played, slowing the surface.

Some matches were postponed, and four in men’s singles were stopped because of darkness, involving No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 13 Gael Monfils, No. 17 John Isner and No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis.

Monfils’ match against Fabio Fognini in the main stadium was halted at 5-all in the fifth set a few minutes before 10 p.m., but only after all manner of theater. At 4-all, there was a prolonged discussion with tournament referee Stefan Fransson about whether to suspend the match; Fognini didn’t care for the decision to continue and kept arguing, which led to Monfils being awarded a free point.

Then, with Monfils barely able to walk, let alone run, Fognini accrued three match points at 5-4, but failed to convert any, and had more choice words for the chair umpire while packing up his equipment for the night.

The man Federer beat in last year’s final, Robin Soderling, is looking strong again, having dropped a total of seven games through two matches in 2010.

His second rout came Wednesday against unseeded American Taylor Dent, a 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 victory.