Tennis: Roddick and Petrova out in Paris

PARIS - Chilly Roland Garros proved an inhospitable place for Andy Roddick and Nadia Petrova when they hobbled out of the French Open tennis championships in the first round today.

Men's fifth seed Roddick quit his match with Spain's Alberto Martin when trailing 6-4 7-5 1-0 due to a recurrence of a left ankle injury.

Petrova, the in-form Russian third seed, was hampered by a thigh injury sustained in practice and lost 6-2 6-2 to Japan's Akiko Morigami.

Players donned long sleeves and caps while spectators pulled on woolly hats and scarves on a day when temperatures barely scraped above 10 degrees in the French capital.

Returning Swiss Martina Hingis and holder Justine Henin-Hardenne, though, warmed to their task with comfortable wins.

Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who like Roddick is nursing an ankle problem, also won but Russian Marat Safin made an unhappy exit after a four-set defeat by Chilean ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez.

Roddick has never gone further than round three at Roland Garros and his chances against clay specialist Martin were reduced when he injured his ankle at the World Team Championship last week.

The American was being outfoxed by Martin, the world number 68, on Court Suzanne Lenglen when, after a chat with the trainer, he decided not to risk any further injury with Wimbledon less than four weeks away.

"I didn't think it was going to be 100 per cent but maybe I was stupidly optimistic last week," Roddick told reporters.

"Not much else was working besides my serve, it was a lost cause I think."

Petrova has long been in the shadow of her grand slam-winning compatriots Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Myskina.

But she has won three claycourt titles this season and had real hopes of making a breakthrough in Paris.

"I was really coming in all excited here. It was very unfortunate what happened to me," said the Muscovite.

Coldest

Hingis, back at Roland Garros after a five-year absence, trounced American Lisa Raymond 6-2 6-2 in the first, and probably coldest, match of the day.

The claycourt event is the only grand slam missing from Hingis' collection. In 1999 she was mocked by the Paris crowd after throwing a tantrum during her defeat in the final by Steffi Graf.

Today, though, the 25-year-old was all sunny smiles, despite the weather.

"I was like ouff!", said Hingis, who won her first title since returning from a three-year break at the Italian Open this month.

"But I'm from a cold country so it shouldn't be such a big factor." Hingis is on a quarter-final collision course with second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium.

The Paris air had warmed a little by the time Henin-Hardenne took to centre court enclosed in a long-sleeved top and the Belgian produced a 6-3 6-0 triumph over Estonian Maret Ani.

"It was freezing out there and pretty windy," said Henin-Hardenne.

"I decided to play with long sleeves. That doesn't happen very often but you need to be careful, in this type of weather you can catch something very easily."

Petrova's defeat was a further boost for the Belgian, who was in line to face the imposing Russian in the last eight.

Croatian fourth seed Ivan Ljubicic, who has never made it past the third round at Roland Garros, rattled through to round two with a 6-2 6-0 6-3 thrashing of Argentine Carlos Berlocq.

Safin was beaten 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-1 by Gonzalez in a match that proved as tough as expected for the former world number one, who only returned to the tour in February after an eight-month injury absence.

He later refused to attend his obligatory post-match news conference. Organisers said he would be fined an amount to be decided on Wednesday.

Hewitt, twice a quarter-finalist, has also been dogged by injury problems this year but looked in good shape in his 7-6 3-6 6-2 6-0 victory against Czech Jan Hernych.

Briton Andy Murray's debut was almost as painful to watch as it evidently was to play in.

The Scot needed treatment for a back injury during an error filled five-set defeat by fellow 19-year-old Gael Monfils of France. They made 68 unforced errors each.

- REUTERS