Nadal, Isner among men winning on second day

Rain brought Day 2 of the French Open to an early end Monday, with both the favorite and the top-seeded American man still on the court but in control.

Top overall seed Rafael Nadal of Spain led Italian Simone Bolelli 6-4, 6-3, 0-3 when play was suspended. Nadal is looking for his record 11th French Open title. He is 79-2 all time at Roland Garros and has lost just once on clay this season.

American John Isner, the ninth seed, also won the first two sets of his match before the rain. Isner leads fellow American Noah Rubin 6-3, 7-6 (9).

Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic overpowered Rogerio Dutra Silva in straight sets to move into the second round.

Djokovic, the 12-time grand slam winner, eased past the Brazilian opponent, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, but did not always look comfortable doing it.

“Experience helps,” Djokovic said. “Especially in the early rounds. I’ve played many times here. I’m still a bit rusty on the court. I need to get some things to a higher level.”

The Serbian Djokovic is returning from a hiatus prompted by an elbow injury and is seeded 20th at Roland Garros, the lowest he has been seeded at a Grand Slam tournament since the 2006 U.S. Open.

“You don’t get to feel always your best but at the end of the day you try to get the best out of it.”

Stan Wawrinka, on the other hand, is out of the Open after a first-round, five-set loss to Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain.

Wawrinka needed extended treatment during the first set but battled for almost three-and-a-half-hours before dropping an epic match.

Lopez beat the No. 23-seed Wawrinka 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Wawrinka, who is battling knee issues, failed to consistently land his serve and had 72 unforced errors. The three-time Grand Slam winner finished as runner-up last year.

“I know exactly where I want to be. I won three Grand Slams in my career and I know what it takes to do it. And my goal is to get to my top (level). Sooner or later I will be (there),” Wawrinka said. “My knee is good. I’m happy with that. That’s really positive to see, but it’s been now a few weeks that I’m feeling great with that sort of injury I did. So that’s good. I’m in the right way, and I need to keep pushing.”

American No. 12 seed Sam Querrey beat countryman Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (6) to advance to Round 2.

High women’s seeds

avoid upsets in rain-shortened day

The highest seeds to play Monday avoided upset, but the biggest name in the WTA on the day’s docket didn’t make the court as rain halted play early in the first round of the French Open.

The match between Maria Sharapova, seeded 28th at Roland Garros, and Richel Hogenkamp was the only match on either the men’s or women’s side that did not at least begin on Monday. The match between No. 16 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium and American Varvara Lepchenko was the only other one on the women’s side not to finish.

Mertens led 6-7 (11), 7-6 (7), 3-0 when play was suspended.

Eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova survived a scare early in the day, taken to three sets by Paraguayan Veronica Cepede Royg before prevailing 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

American Coco Vandeweghe, seeded 15th, and 2-seed Caroline Wozniacki both won their openers in straight sets. Thirteenth-seeded Madison Keys of the U.S. also cruised, beating American Sachia Vickery 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the former World No. 1 and two-time Australian Open winner, fell to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 7-5.

Among the other seeded women’s players to advance were No. 6 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and No. 14 Daria Kasatkina of Russia.