PARIS, (Reuters) – Roger Federer was lucky to keep  alive his dream of winning a maiden Roland Garros crown and  Venus Williams used a good night’s sleep to spare herself from a  French Open nightmare in the second round yesterday.

Federer appeared to be heading for his earliest grand slam  defeat since 2003 when he struggled to find his touch for three  sets on a damp day in Paris but found his range in the nick of  time to subdue Argentina’s Jose Acasuso 7-6 5-7 7-6 6-2.

“I was not afraid to die, so everything was okay. It was  sort of a fun match to be part of with so many ups and downs. I  could have won the first three sets. Could have lost them also.  (So) I’m thrilled to be through,” Federer told reporters.

It was a sentiment shared by Williams.

The third seed’s second-round tussle was suspended on  Wednesday due to bad light after she had lost the first set. She  returned to save a match point before crawling over the  finishing line with a 6-7 6-2 7-5 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.

“I was very angry. I really wanted that tiebreaker. She just  came up with shot after shot, on the line, deep, hard, you know  the best shots she could hit,” said Williams. “I was pretty  upset.But I wound down … (and today) I felt very good.”

Her sister Serena, who had rated her display in the previous  round as “junior tennis” enjoyed an easier outing yesterday  with a 6-2 6-0 destruction of Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Jelena Dokic left Roland Garros in floods of tears after  retiring hurt with a back injury. The Australian had fourth seed  Elena Dementieva on the run for over an hour but was left  sobbing when she had to quit while leading 6-2 3-4.

“It will be hard to swallow this … very disappointing,  considering that I was up and I was playing well,” said Dokic.

Dementieva added: “I really didn’t deserve to win this match  because of the way I was playing.”

Federer likes hot days on court so the clay plays faster but  the sun failed to peek through the clouds even once during the  3-1/2 hour tussle while the Swiss tried to find a way to break  down the tactics of a player who feels at home on red dirt.

Federer stumbled through the first set, was tripped up in  the second, fought back from 5-1 down in the third and coasted  through the fourth — much to the relief of the panic-stricken  fans who gave the players a standing ovation.

“The conditions made it definitely hard today. It was slow,  so you had to really be very patient and that might have played  in his favour,” said the Swiss.

An angry Acasuso summed up his effort as “a near miss”.

EASY VICTORY
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic snuffed out the challenge of  Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 6-2 and Russian seventh seed  Svetlana Kuznetsova was at her ruthless best in a 49-minute 6-0  6-2 demolition of Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva.

With little to analyse in yet another easy victory, Jankovic  passed on something new she had learnt from Serbia’s President  Boris Tadic when he made a flying visit to Roland Garros. “He gave us some tips yesterday. Did you know if you eat  fruit after the meal you get fat? If you eat it late in the  afternoon or in the evening, it turns into fat. That’s sugar,”  Jankovic told a bunch of amused reporters.

While Jankovic has sliced through the draw, the Williams  sisters have given the fans value for money.

Two days after Serena needed nine match points to huff and  puff into round two, Venus saved one against Safarova.

Safarova, no stranger to upsets having beaten then holder  Amelie Mauresmo at the 2007 Australian Open, looked to have one  foot in the next round on match point at 5-4 in the third.

But the American threw everything in her arsenal on the next  point and stayed alive with a thumping forehand winner.

Two games later, the seven-times grand slam champion  streaked ahead to serve out the match to love.

Andy Roddick fired 15 aces past a clueless Ivo Minar to  reach the third round in Paris for the first time since his  debut appearance in 2001.

Men’s fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro marched on by beating  Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 6-3 7-5 6-0, while 10th seed Nikolay  Davydenko carved out a 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-2 win over Diego Junqueira.

French number one Marion Bartoli, the 13th seed, slumped to  a 6-3 7-5 defeat by Italy’s Tathiana Garbin.