Russia's Marat Safin reacts during his match against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile during the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris May 30, 2006. (Xinhua photo)

Defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne and comeback queen Martina Hingis surged into the second round of French Open on Tuesday, while America's Andy Roddick and Nadia Petrova of Russia became the first major casualties of this year's event.

Roddick, the fifth seed, was forced to pull out of his match with Alberto Martin because of the left ankle he sprained last week. Roddick was trailing the veteran Spaniard 4-6, 5-7, 0-1.

"I haven't had much time to practice and I caught the ankle again at 5-5 in the second set. It affected the way I landed on my serve and not much else was working apart from the serve," said Roddick.

Third seed Petrova, widely regarded as one of the biggest favorites for the women's title after winning three clay court crowns coming into the event, suffered a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing by Japan's Akiko Morigami.

Former world number one Marat Safin, who is still struggling to regain his form after knee surgery last year, lost 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Chilean ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez.

Henin-Hardenne was a 6-3, 6-0 winner against Estonia's Maret Ani. The Belgian, seeded fifth here, displayed fine form against her inexperienced opponent.

Hingis took on 32-year-old American Lisa Raymond, but had no trouble either as she made her first appearance in Roland Garros since 2002.

"I don't think I was totally tested today," Hingis said.

"It's hard to say something after 6-2, 6-2 against Lisa Raymond. I'm sure once you work yourself into the tournament, you can tell more. I'm just happy the first round's over."

Tenth-seeded Anastasia Myskina, No.13 Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No.15 Daniela Hantuchova also posted easy straight sets wins. Maria Kirilenko sidestepped a match point to beat Severine Bremond,8-6 in the third set.

China celebrated its best ever Grand Slam performance when Zheng Jie became the fourth Chinese women to reach the French Open second round.

The 22-year-old, who reached the fourth round in 2004, ousted French 23rd seed Tatiana Golovin 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Zheng joins Sun Tiantian, Peng Shuai and Li Na, who all won on Monday, in the next stage.

However, Yan Zi, a doubles specialist, was unable to make it through losing 6-2, 6-3 to America's Jamea Jackson.

On the men's side, No.25 Gael Monfils outlasted Scot Andy Murray 6-4, 6-7, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 in three hours, 42 minutes. No.19 Marcos Baghdatis, the surprise runner-up at this year's Australian Open, knocked out Albert Portas 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.

Ivan Ljubicic, David Ferrer, Tommy Haas, Olivier Rochus, Fernando Verdasco and Paul-Henri Mathieu were also straight-set winners on Tuesday.

No.14 Lleyton Hewitt posted a four-set win over Jan Hernych, and Albert Montanes completed his victory over No.17 Robby Ginepri, which was postponed last night because of darkness, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1,6-4.

Thomas Johannson, the 18th seed, blew a two-sets-to-love lead to Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Editor: Donald