PARIS(AP) At age 39 - and 14 years after her most recent French Open appearance - Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm won a match at Roland Garros.
And not against just any opponent: She eliminated former No. 1 Dinara Safina, the runner-up at the French Open in 2008 and 2009.
Date Krumm became the oldest woman since 1985 to reach the second round at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, rallying in the second set and again in the third Tuesday to beat Safina 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Date Krumm hadn't played in the French Open since 1996, the year she retired. She won her first match at Roland Garros in 1989 - before 26 players in this year's draw were even born - and she was a semifinalist in 1995.
I have a big memory here,'' she said.I don't like so much red clay, but today I beat Safina, so it's big, big memory again. If I lost, still I'm very happy to be here.''
Date Krumm married in 2001, and she entered marathons and focused on trying to start a family before her husband encouraged her to rejoin the tennis tour in 2008. He'd never seen her compete in person.
He loves the tennis,'' she said.So always he ask to me, 'Why don't you play tennis one more time?' This is just for fun, not serious.''
The only older woman to win a match at Roland Garros in the Open era was Virginia Wade, who also was 39 in 1985, but 2 1/2 months older than Date Krumm is now.
On Tuesday, Date Krumm won despite a bandaged right calf and a foot injury she aggravated during the match.
Safina, seeded ninth, has been hampered since January by a back injury. Her record this year fell to 5-6.
I will have to swallow this loss and keep on moving,'' the Russian said.After rain, always sun comes.''
SHARAPOVA'S GROOVE: Maria Sharapova figures there's no reason she should keep coming up short on the French Open clay.
Sharapova began another bid Tuesday for the only Grand Slam title missing from her resume, beating qualifier Ksenia Pervak 6-3, 6-2.
I think I have a great game for the clay,'' said Sharapova, who is 24-7 at Roland Garros but has yet to make a final.If I play aggressive in the way I play, I'm certainly moving a lot better than I did, say, four or five years ago. I can play longer matches. I don't get as tired. It's a matter of doing it.''
Sharapova is seeded 12th in a draw considered wide open. She missed time this season with a right elbow injury, but won a clay-court tuneup at Strasbourg last weekend.
The 6-foot-2 Sharapova started slowly against the 5-foot-7 Pervak, an 18-year-old Russian making her debut in the main draw of a major.
Took me awhile to get going and just to get my groove,'' Sharapova said.She was half my size and she was hitting twice as hard as me. I knew I was doing something wrong. I started playing solid and changed a few things around. Went well after that.''
Sharapova had won 24 consecutive first-round matches at Grand Slams until being upset at that stage at the Australian Open in January. Now she's starting a new streak.
RAFA REDUX: Rafael Nadal is starting over.
The Spaniard began his French Open career with a record 31 consecutive match wins and four championships. The streak ended with a fourth-round upset loss to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009.
So Nadal came to this year's tournament intent on regaining the title, and he began by overpowering 18-year-old French wild card Gianni Mina 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round Tuesday.
Nadal made 28 unforced errors and had to save nine break points against the 655th-ranked Mina.
First day here is always a little bit more nervous than usual,'' Nadal said.I think I played bad. I played poorly because I made a lot of unforced errors. But I won anyway, without any problem, so that's always important and a positive thing. But I think I can do much better in the next round.''
Nadal is unbeaten on clay this year, having won titles at Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid. But he insisted it's too early to name himself a favorite - even if pretty much everyone else will.
The only favorites,'' Nadal said,are the players who are going to be in the final.''
AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich contributed to this report.