Top-seeds Roger Federer and Amelie Mauresmo Wednesday continued their quest for the French Open crown after winning their second round matches in a day that rain interrupted play.

Federer, who is trying to win the only Grand Slam tennis title to elude him, blast past lucky loser Alejandro Falla 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, in one-hour, 28 minutes.

Federer's biggest nuisance on this day was the rain that interrupted play twice.

"It's not easy, you know, to come on and off. Conditions are really slow and wet and everything," Federer said. "The match was okay. I sort of played really well in the first set. After that it was on and off. That was I think normal with the rain.

"Now that I won my second round, I'm in the rhythm again," added the Swiss, who enjoyed a two day rest.

"It was nice to get the first match out of the way. I had one day extra. I just got to be able to switch now again to one day in between."

On Friday, the Swiss star takes on Chilean Nicolas Massu, who downed Belarus giant Max Mirnyi 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

While Federer cruised, third-seeded David Nalbandian battled for his life against Frenchman Richard Gasquet.

The 19-year-old Gasquet held more than his own, dazzling the Parisian crowd with masterful court stewardship.

After splitting the first two sets, Nalbandian fell 4-5 and 0-40 on his serve but he quickly regained control of the match as the Frenchman disintegrated, falling 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Nicolas Kiefer, the men's 13th seed, needed 4 hours, 50 minutes to beat French wild-card Marc Gicquel 6-0, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9.

Former champions Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero, sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and 20th-seeded Tomas Berdych also advanced.

On the women's side, France's favorite daughter Mauresmo survived a scare against 19-year-old Vera Dushevina.

After securing the first set in 34 minutes, the top-ranked Frenchwoman struggled mightily in the wind. She came close to losing the second set twice before prevailing 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

"In the first set, I was in control of the game," Mauresmo said."Then all of a sudden, I'm not sure if it's in my mind or I just relaxed too much. Something happened. Things sort of weren't functioning any more: the serve, the tennis."

"But I think that experience and managing the important points helped me and made the difference in that second set," added the Frenchwoman, who meets Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 victor over Marion Bartoli of France.

Two days after being on the brink of elimination -- she staved off three match points against American Mashona Washington in round one -- fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova restored order as she overwhelmed Czech Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-1 to advance into the third round.

The Russian blonde is slated to meet Australian Alicia Molik, who outlasted Romanian qualifier Anda Perianu 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Dinara Safina, the 14th seed, downed Hana Sromova 6-0, 6-2, and China' Li Na continuted her impressive run with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Russian 27th seed Anna Chakvetadze.

Editor: Donald