Venus thunders in the rain

PARIS -- Singin' in the rain is OK if you're an American in Paris named Gene Kelly. (Or do I have Mr. Kelly's movies mixed up?) But swingin' in the rain ain't so great if you're a tourist with a tennis racket trying to make a living slogging through the moist loam at Roland Garros.

A line from an old ballad called "I Love Paris" goes "I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles . . ." This isn't supposed to be winter but it's a good impersonation: cold, dank, wet while the French Open stops, starts, stops, starts, and tries to dry out. Sometimes it just goes on despite showers, as Venus Williams and ex-champ Anastasia Myskina of Russia, among numerous, learned.

Venus, dressed in black -- mourning the weather? -- didn't seem to mind the drippage. But what about the onlookers at Court 1, the intimate, overgrown closet where you're close enough to offer an umbrella to a player? Were we doing penance sitting there?

Yesterday was the annual kids' day, when thousands of schoolchildren are admitted free (an observance the US Open should adopt), and they were loving their day off. Who cared if it was the Drench Open? They were screaming for Venus, pleased as she rolled up a 6-1, 5-1 lead over another American, Ashley Harkleroad.

Venus even had a chuckle. Not at her beleaguered foe, but at what she saw on the courtside serving-speed indicator. It was a vision as though she'd won the lottery.

"I saw 206 [kilometers, translating as 128 miles per hour]," she said. "I was so excited because I broke my record -- 205 [127 m.p.h.]. When I was younger, I tried to serve harder and harder. Now I'm not trying to serve hard, so it was unexpected."

This occurred at 4-1, 30-0 in the second set, a blazing service winner through the raindrops and with a soaked ball heavier than a Big Mac.

"She can really pop them in there," Harkleroad said, respectfully. "Venus is 6-2 and I'm 5-6. I can't do it."

At about that time, falling so far to the rear, Harkleroad, No. 80, but surely the greatest player ever out of Rossville, Ga., loudly chastised herself: "I can't play. I hate this game!"

"I did hate it out there," she said. "Venus was moving me like ping-pong, so I wasn't enjoying it. But sometimes I say things like that, and it relaxes me. Takes the pressure off. I just play and see what happens."

What happened was startling. Harkleroad pulled herself together admirably, caught up, forced a tiebreaker during which she held five set points.

A third set loomed, and the schoolkids were going bonkers to see who conquers. Then Venus remembered who she is, finally closing on a fifth match point, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8).

Later, the Women's Tennis Association spoiled a good story with a fact. Some digging revealed that Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, the imposing Netherlander, set the speed record of 130 m.p.h. last summer in the qualifier at Cincinnati.

One of the daily downpours scratched No. 8 Serena Williams's second-rounder against Venezuelan Milagros Sequera, No. 69.

Nevertheless, the Sisters are reunited again, the first time they've graced a major together since the Australian of 2006, where they were unprepared and bounced quickly.

Venus, No. 27, faces a tougher third-round assignment: No. 5 Jelena Jankovic.

Robby Ginepri, halted by nightfall Tuesday at a set apiece with Argentine Diego Hartfield, had to go five sets. But he did his part in the US men's unprecedented debacle, losing, 6-4, 1-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. That made it a perfect 0-for-9 first round for the American boys of bummer. However, shaming the guys, five of 10 US women survive: the Sisters plus Rhode Islander Jill Craybas, Californian Meilen Tu, and Arizonan Meghann Shaughnessy.

"Probably the shortest match I ever won," said Shaughnessy. It took her 55 minutes to beat Myskina, 6-1, 6-0.

Myskina, the champion in 2004, was the day's curiosity. What was she doing here? Myskina hadn't played in months, and said, "I moved like a big cow."

The little woman has a big toe problem. "The left one," she said. "I had surgery in January. They did a lot of things I can't describe. I love tennis, so I wanted to try. The doctors said I should try."

Easy for them. "It still hurts," she said. "It's swollen. Feet are pretty important for tennis. I don't know if I'll be back. But I enjoyed my time off in Moscow. I was on TV. A soccer show. I don't know anything about soccer, but it worked." She knows enough not to kick a ball with her left foot.

"I could see Anastasia was having trouble moving, so I made sure to move her," said the pragmatist Shaughnessy, who wanted to come in from the rain.