体坛英语资讯：Nadal sets new record, Safina unstoppable

Rafael Nadal eclipsed another mark on his signature red clay court, extending the longest all-win run at the French Open to 29 matches on Friday. By beating Brazil's Marcos Daniel 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, the current world number one bettered Bjorn Borg's record of consecutive victories at Roland Garros which dated back to the 1978-81 seasons.

Roger Federer began his quest for the only Grand Slam title that had eluded him in impressive style as the second seed was never troubled by Spaniard Alberto Martin and cruised through with a comfortable 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win.

In contrast, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, also biding for an elusive Roland Garros title, was made to work in a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 tough win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Also struggling through was Maria Sharapova. Her eagerly-anticipated return to Grand Slam was far from perfect as the former world number one apparently had to fight back for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Belarussian Anastasia Yakimova.

The Russian, ranked at a lowly 102 after a nine-month absence to cure a shoulder injury, said that her return feels like a second career has just get underway.

"Definitely. It's the first time in my life where I couldn't practice for such a long period of time," said Sharapova. "Everything about it was just bizarre. It was like some things were just taken away from your life."

Russian player Maria Sharapova serves to Belarus' Anastasiya Yakimova during their French Open tennis first round match at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. Sharapova won 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

She warmed up for her first big event since injury by playing singles at the low-key Warsaw event last week. Women's top seed Dinara Safina dismantled Anne Keothavong 6-0, 6-0 earlier in her opening match.

The Russian produced a devastating display of power and aggression to whitewash Roland Garros newcomer Keothavong, 25, in 61 minutes on centre court.

Safina, bidding for a maiden Grand Slam title, was surprised by such an easy start.

"I came on the court expecting a good match and tough one because she had been playing good in Warsaw. She made semis," the 23-year-old said.

She raced through the first set as her crashing forehands left Keothavong chasing shadows and was equally ruthless in the second, refusing to give any chance even when her 48th-ranked opponent had three game points at 6-0, 3-0 down.

Safina said she concentrated on the match too much to feel sorry for her opponent and revealed that the British number one exchanged a word with her while shaking hands on court.

"After I shake her hand she said at least you could give me one game. I could imagine it's not nice to feel on the court, but I was just so into myself.

"I think I was playing with my head like into the match. I just was playing point by point. It ended up like that," Safina said.

Safina, clearly the tournament favorite, said that she would not be affected by what people expected from her.

"I'm not really pay attention to what the people saying. The most important thing is I play my game day by day, match by match. How far I can get, God knows."

Dressed to kill, Nadal emerged onto Centre Court wearing a bright pink shirt with yellow bandana. But the Spaniard, having won four French Open titles in a row, took time to get going his pursuit for a historic fifth as he survived a tiebreaker in the first set before resurging from 3-1 down in the second.

Daniel, 30, can look back with much pride on a match in which he broke Nadal's serve three times.

The player ranked 97 enjoyed his time on the big stage, pushing his prestigious opponent onto the back foot on a number of occasions.

"Roland Garros always is difficult. When I start, normally I didn't start to play my best here the last four years," Nadal said, "but the important thing is being with positive mentality and trying to win. I won in three sets. That's important."

In other men's action, Davydenko outplayed Stefan Koubek in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and Andy Roddick played the best he has on clay for several seasons, also breezing past French wildcard Romain Jouan 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Asia had a successful day at the expense of French hopes.

No. 15 seed Zheng Jie of China thumped Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1, 6-3 and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn advanced with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over Camille Pin.