Early Start, Little Progress

Not much tennis was played on Day One of the French Open.

Rain halted many matches and forced tournament organizers to push first-round matches to Monday.

Justine Henin, Marat Safin and Serena Williams were among those who were able to sneak their way past not only Mother Nature, but pesky opponents to book their places in round two of the year's second major.

Williams, opening play against Tsvetana Pironkova, the teenager who stunned sister Venus in the first round of last year's Australian Open, struggled to a 5-7 6-1 6-1 win.

If anything, both Justine and Serena will build on their wins. The rest of the field must wait another day to get their feet dirty.

Safin's opening-day victory is something I'm not too surprised by. I see the Russian going far in this tournament. He's (as usual) had some up and down results as of late, but was instrumental in the Russian Davis Cup win a month ago (a confidence builder) and no doubt will gain momentum (mentally and physically) as he racks up the Ws.

Greg Garber had this interesting take on the contemporary Marat.