Play ends for the day in Paris

Tennis: Rain played spoilsport at the French Open for the second day running when a torrential downpour forced a premature end to the tennis at Roland Garros today.

Steady drizzle washed away all but seven of the scheduled 24 matches on Sunday and with only six matches completed on day two of the claycourt grand slam, organisers will struggle to clear the first-round backlog.

Venus Williams and men's fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko began their matches after a three-hour delay and managed to squeeze into the second round before another downpour greeted the fans at Roland Garros.

Younger sister Serena beat Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7 6-1 6-1 yesterday to advance through to the second round. Reigning champion Justine Henin also won on the opening day.

Venus beat rising French talent Alize Cornet 6-4 6-3 on Centre Court while Russian Davydenko was a 6-3 6-1 6-1 winner over Italian Stefano Galvani on court one.

Following another short disruption, world number one Roger Federer streaked ahead 6-4 4-1 against American journeyman Michael Russell when yet another deluge forced the players to scurry back into the locker room.

Seventh seed Ivan Ljubicic, aiming to win a match at a grand slam for the first time since reaching the third round at Wimbledon last year, had a 6-1 4-4 cushion over France's Arnaud Clement on Suzanne Lenglen court.

Elsewhere, Frenchwoman Severine Bremond became the first seed to be knocked out of the tournament. The 31st seed was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Michaella Krajicek, of the Netherlands.

The rain has already accounted for matches involving fourth-seed Jelena Jankovic and sixth-seed Nicole Vaidisova.

They were scheduled to be last on Philippe Chatrier and Court 1 respectively, but organisers have cancelled the final match on each court.

Only seven first-round matches were completed yesterday and further rain is forecast for the rest of the week.