SURVIVAL

Andy Roddick is one of the few seeded players to get in a full match at soggy Roland Garros on Thursday.

Associated Press

PARIS

The remaking of Andy Roddick is paying dividends at the French Open.

He’s no longer quite so dependent on that fastest-on-tour serve and booming forehand. No longer in trouble when Plan A doesn’t work on a given day. And no longer a pushover on the red clay.

Stuck on his least-favorite court, at his least-successful Grand Slam tournament, and dealing with wet weather that figured to make matters worse, Roddick managed to lose serve seven times and still get by, beating Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 Thursday to reach the third round at Roland Garros.

“It was brutal for me out there. I couldn’t get my serve to go anywhere, and the ball was just sitting up. I woke up this morning, looked out my window, and knew that it was going to be a long one,” the No. 6-seeded Roddick said, referring to drizzles that delayed the start of play more than 41/2 hours.

“It kind of takes away a lot of shots,” he added, “and it makes it just about hitting the ball and running.”

Roddick’s match was interrupted twice by showers on a day full of waiting, starting and stopping. Despite the brief windows of tennis, there were plenty of developments:

2008 French Open champion and former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic double-faulted seven times and lost 6-3, 6-0 to No. 28 Alisa Kleybanova in the second round. Ivanovic’s decline has been swift: She’s down to 42nd in the rankings, is 10-10 this season and has won two matches at her past three Grand Slam tournaments combined;

No. 17 John Isner pounded 38 aces and came back to beat Marco Chiudinelli 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-4 in a match carried over from Wednesday;

No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis, a pair of past Grand Slam finalists, won to set up a third-round matchup;

Unseeded Fabio Fognini of Italy was jeered by spectators when he walked on court, then closed out a 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 9-7 upset of No. 13 Gael Monfils in a match suspended at 5-all in the fifth set the previous night. Fognini riled up the locals by arguing Wednesday with a tournament official about whether play should continue. As for the way he was greeted Thursday, Fognini said, “It’s normal; we are in France” — and Monfils happens to be French.

Three seeded women joined Monfils on the way out, all in straight sets: No. 8 Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Yaroslava Shvedova, No. 21 Vera Zvonareva lost to Anastasia Rodionova, and No. 32 Kateryna Bondarenko lost to Aleksandra Wozniak.

Winners included No. 4 Jelena Jankovic, No. 5 Elena Dementieva, No. 11 Li Na and No. 18 Shahar Peer.

“Overall, it was very difficult because of the conditions,” said Jankovic, who struggled in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Kaia Kanepi, a qualifier ranked 118th. “I came here around 9 in the morning. To be waiting around in the locker room — it’s really not easy.”

When play was suspended Thursday night because of darkness Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova were leading their matches, while Fish was tied at a set apiece with No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic.

There were 18 singles matches that never began, so players like four-time champion Rafael Nadal and 2002 champion Serena Williams won’t hit a shot in the second round until what shapes up to be a busy Friday.

Roddick will get a chance to rest after spending nearly all of Thursday at Roland Garros, including about three hours at Court Suzanne Lenglen with the 112th-ranked Kavcic, who is only 1-2 at major tournaments.

“His game plan changed a little bit in the locker room after the rain,” Kavcic said.