French Open** Venue:** Roland Garros, Paris** Date:** 23 May-6 JuneCoverage: Live video streamed from 1000 BST on BBC Sport website (UK only) and BBC red button; commentary on BBC 5 live sports extra; also live on Eurosport; text commentary on BBC Sport website
**Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova survived a huge scare to beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 4-6 7-5 6-4 and advance to round three of the French Open.**Sixth seed Kuznetsova was forced to save four match points as world number 41 Petkovic dominated the first two sets of a rain-affected match.
But the Russian rallied in the decider to win on her fourth match point and seal a meeting with Maria Kirilenko.
Earlier, second seed Venus Williams beat Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-4.
**Williams **will be buoyed by the manner of her victory but in the post-match press conference found herself answering more questions about her outfit than her performance.
The American wore the same self-designed black lace number she had unveiled against Schnyder, a see-through skirted bodice featuring a skin-coloured undergarment.
The 29-year-old, who caused a similar controversy with her choice of outfit at the Australian Open, denied the dress was deliberately provocative and said: “That was never the objective,” said Williams.
Will Williams win the French Open?"It all started in Australia with the slits. I had a dress with really long slits in the front and it was about wearing a dress that looks like you have these slits with bareness.
“The design has nothing to do with the rear. It just so happens that I have a very well developed one! The illusion of just having bare skin is definitely, for me, a lot more beautiful.”
To the one question she was asked about Wednesday’s win, Williams replied: “On the bigger points, especially on my serve, I thought I played those really well, and I think that was key.”
Williams, who next plays 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova after she came from a set down to beat Varvara Lepchenko, has never won the French Open and in 13 previous appearances, her best finish was a semi-final place in 2002 when she lost to sister Serena.
Number 14 seed Flavia Pennetta demolished her fellow Italian Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-1,19th seed Nadia Petrova was an similarly-comfortable in her 6-1 6-2 win against Agnes Szavay and Alexandra Dulgheru (31) eased past Timea Bacsinszky 6-4 6-2.
Meanwhile, 15th seed **Aravane Rezai **recovered from a mid-match blip to see off Angelique Kerber 6-2 2-6 6-3 and 30th seed Maria Kirilenko saw off Yvonne Meusburger in straight sets.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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