2.31 pm: Yup, Berdych takes the fourth 6-4 and world No.34 Kevin Anderson is into his 14th set of the week. On Chatrier meanwhile we have Tsonga - Fognini. No.5 and top Frenchie Jo-Wil versus last year's quarter-finalist from Italy. Martic meanwhile has sealed the first set and broken to open the second.
2.29 pm: Sharapova is through, 6-1, 6-1 to face Peng Shuai in the third round. After double-bageling Alex Cadantu in her opening match, she double-breadsticked Morita here. 6-2, 6-2 (double swan?) on the cards against No.28 seed Peng? (I think 2s look like swans, so after the bagel and the breadstick we have a swan).
2.22 pm: Petra Martic is serving for the set at 5-2, and Anabel Medina has just had a bit of back manip from the tournament physio. Meanwhile Tomas Berdych is readying himself to serve for the fourth set. Looks like Kevin Anderson is about to play his 14th set of the week so far.
2.14 pm: Congratulations Svetlana Kuznetsova! The Russian no.26 seed has rolled over third seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 to book her place in the fourth round, where she faces Sara Errani.
2.12 pm: Sharapova leads 2-0 in the second set, while Kuznetsova leads 5-2. An upset is still very much on the cards there. Malek Jaziri had three match points at 5-4 but then folded to lose 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to Marcel Granollers. The Spanish no.20 seed held his nerve big time there. Shame for the Tunisian who would have been the first man from his nation to reach the third round here since 1963. Granollers will face giant-killer (i.e. he beat 6'9" Isner!) Paul-Henri Mathieu tomorrow, weather permitting (it's quite cool here today which is no bad thing and we're hoping that the rain holds off).
1.56 pm: Sharapova pockets the first set 6-1, while Kuznetsova leads 3-1 in the second set.
1.44 pm: Sharapova breaks to lead 3-1, while Kuznetsova broke to open the second and has just saved another two break points. 2-0 Sveta, deuce.
1.42 pm: Holds on either side for Maria and Ayumi, who has climbed steadily throughout her career to make it into the top 50, so she'll be no easy beat for the No.2 seed (and double Rome champion, so Maria's certainly coming to terms with clay as her career progresses).
Elsewhere Anabel Medina and Petra "Bartoli-beater" Martic are under way, and in the men's, Anderson and Berdych are in a tie-break. And... Kevin has taken it 7-4! Wow! The 2010 semi-finalist (who went on to make the final at Wimbledon a month later) is 2-1 down! Set point was also a shocker, with the Czech missing a smash from point-blank range...
1.31 pm: Aga breaks, meaning that she has finally troubled the scorers, but then Sveta just breaks right back at ya, Aga! 6-1 to the 2009 champion (and 2006 finalist, lest we forget. JuJu didn't give her much of a chance). The 2008 winner may have tumbled out but we still have 2009, 2010 (Schiavone) and 2011 (Li) still going strong.
1.18 pm: Having had their match postponed last night, Maria Sharapova and Ayumi Morita are soon to be in action at last. Masha is rocking the Federesque black look again with a little vest which is very fetching. However when she took it off, she revealed an incredible tan line (she obviously had a halter-neck dress on in practice... See photo for pictorial evidence). Never mind. As Sveta is proving, it's the quality of the tennis that counts and she is 5-0 up and about to serve to bagel Agnieszka "could be world No.1 by the end of the fortnight but not at this rate" Radwanska!
1.15 pm: Sveta Kuz is rocking a 3-0, two-break lead! Whatever works for you, Sveta! Just promise me you'll let your hair down if you win the whole thing again. She's also saved two break points in this fourth game as well. Berdych - Anderson is locked at 4-4 in the third, while Granollers - Jaziri is back (they couldn't finish it off yesterday). 2-1 on service in the fifth there.
1.07 pm: Sara Errani carves out three match points and takes the second. 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic is out! The blue-eyed Italian has dinked, guiled and volleyed her way into the fourth round, where she will face the winner of the match on Chatrier, where Sveta has held to lead 2-0.
1.04 pm: Now don't get me wrong, I love Sveta. I think she's great, I really do. But the look she's rocking here is not rocking in the slightest. The braids in the hair have a sort of "home-made Roxette only shorter" feel to them and the shorts do her no favours. Aga meanwhile is all sleek and white and smooth. And all that matters not a jot as Sveta has broken to open, shutting me right up.
12.58 pm: Sara breaks! 3-1! Ana breaks back! 3-2! Sara breaks! 4-2. *cough*WTA*cough*. Ana's in danger of going out not with a bang, but with a whimper (against admittedly a very awkward opponent to play).
12.52 pm: Here come Aga and Sveta. This'll be a good 'un. Ms Radwanska the elder and Ms Kuznetsova have met 12 times prior to today, with the Russian two-time Slamp champ concluding three-quarters of them in her favour, including right here in 2009 in the fourth round en route to victoire.
12.42 pm: First winner of the day and it's S-S-S Sloane S-S-S-Stephens, who has remained cool, calm and collected to defeat Mathilde Johansson 6-3, 6-2 and end French interest in the laydeez' draw. Sloane will now face the winner of 2003 / 2005 semi-finalist Nadia Petrova and 2010 finalist Sam Stosur. A bit of a bigger ask, that one...
Elsewhere Kevin Anderson broke TBerd twice in a row and held to conclude the set. One apiece. The hyooooge South African is about to start his 12th set at this tournament already. Hours and hours of tennis in his (admittedly very long) legs.
12.33 pm: Hang on, this wasn't in the script! Sara Errani breaks in the 12th game and you cant come back from that! It's a set apiece on Lenglen. She's been coming to the net and volleying like Tsonga, has the wee Italian. Slicing and dicing like Jamie Oliver / Chef Boyardee / Curtis Stone / Gordon Ramsay (delete depending on where you come from). We'll have a decider!
12.29 pm: Ooh, a bit of excitement in an opening session that otherwise has been lacking in effervescence - Anderson breaks Berdych. Ah, and then he hands it straight back. TBerd to serve, 3-4.
12.14 pm: Ana's back on service at 3-4, Sloane has taken the opener 6-3 and Anderson / Berdych is with service at 2-1 in the second. Things seem to be in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment.
11.57 am: All change everywhere. Errani breaks to lead 3-1 in the second after a game of all the deuces. After all my premature Olympic chat, Stephens is broken back by Johansson. But maybe it wasn't premature as SS has just broken MJ and will now serve for the first set. TBerd meanwhile has broken and is also serving in an attempt to trouser the opener, and despite the best efforts of Kevin, including a break point, he has duly taken it to the tune of 6-4.
11.48 am: This could be interesting. Sloane Stephens leads Mathilde Johansson 4-1 in the opener. If she wins, she'll also be in the running for the fourth US Olympic berth. Spots three and four are between Venus (out), Vania King (out), Varvara Lepchenko (facing Schiavone in the third) and Stephens (could get through to the fourth). It'll get mighty close.
11.38 am: Ana gets into more of a rhythm on service and closes out the first set in a baguette, 6-1. Ana - Aga in the fourth round is a possible tie - tasty.
11.29 am: Interesting battle on Court numero uno. Kevin 6'8" Anderson versus Tomas 6'5" Berdych. No.31 seed versus No.7 seed. A couple of big servers. 2-2 there at the moment. Big Kev already has nine sets in his sets this tourney.
11.20 am: Breaktastic on Lenglen. Ana's held once and that's it so far. 3-1 to the Serb. Sara's living up to her name of Unforced Errani. Elsewhere Sloane Stephens is trying to halt the American curse on Chatrier (Harrison, both Williamses, Baker and Isner have all lost out there this year) and leads Mathilde Johansson 2-1 with a break.
11.05 am: So, Ana Ivanovic in action first up on Lenglen. She made the final here two years in a row - in 2007 she served to open, held and then had Justine Henin at, if memory serves me correctly, 15-40 but couldn't capitalise. JuJu pounced and that was that. The following year she had more big-match experience in her veins and won. She become world No.1 two days later but it's been a long and difficult road since then. Nigel Sears (who may become Andy Murray's father-in-law at some point) quit the British LTA to coach her after Wimbledon last year and she's made some progress. It would be great to see her go deep again here this year, and she's great on clay at her best.
10.45 am: Good morning everybody and welcome to the third round! Radwanksa (versus Kuznetsova), Tsonga, Federer (versus Mahut), Ivanovic, Djokovic, Azarenka, Del Potro, Stosur and Berdych are all looking to make it through to the second week, but before that Maria Sharapova and Ayumi Morita need to get their second-round tie out of the way.
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