Nadal puts on clay clinic

PARIS – Imagine this: The third tour-level match of your professional tennis career is against Rafael Nadal in a 9,950-seat stadium at the French Open.

You’ve watched Nadal from afar. You know all about his recently snapped 81-match winning streak on clay. The two consecutive titles at Roland Garros, too. So you have an idea of what to expect, right? Not one bit, according to Flavio Cipolla, the qualifier from Italy who lived the above scenario Thursday.

“I had seen him on TV,” the 227th-ranked Cipolla said. “But playing him really makes an impression.”

Nadal reached the French Open’s third round by beating the wide-eyed Cipolla 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 on a day that the often surprise-filled Grand Slam tournament played to form.

Major champions Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Lleyton Hewitt and Carlos Moya all won, as did up-and-comers such as No. 6 Novak Djokovic and No. 16 Marcos Baghdatis.

That’s not to say there weren’t some tough moments. Williams, for example, fell behind 3-0 in the second set before beating Milagros Sequera of Venezuela 6-0, 7-6 (3) in a match pushed back a day because of darkness.

“It was weird,” said Williams, who counts the 2002 French Open among her eight Grand Slam titles. “I didn’t feel like I played my best tennis throughout the whole match. I was kind of struggling out there to get the rhythm – maybe because I had too many days off.”