ROME (AP)—In a matchup of former French Open champions, 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in a windy first-round match at the Italian Open.
 
”It was tough out there today but it was the same for both of us,” said Ivanovic, who won her only major title at Roland Garros in 2008. ”I just tried to move and to adjust and really tried to look at the ball and move forward. It was difficult at times and the gusts of wind would come out of nowhere, but it was a good match.”
 
Ivanovic is approaching the top 10 again after a difficult stretch in her career that included four first-round losses at Grand Slams. She attributes part of her turnaround to her coach, Nigel Sears, after they started working together following Wimbledon last year.
 
”He is very calm and I am a perfectionist and sometimes I try to do too much at the same time, and so he is very reasonable when he comes onto the court … so this helps me to calm down a lot,” Ivanovic said.
 
In a night match at the Foro Italico, Francesca Schiavone was defeated in front of her home fans by 39th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4.
 
Makarova dictated play with a series of angled baseline winners, while Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, had trouble finding the range for her highly technical game.
 
This tournament is the last major clay-court warm-up for the French, which starts in two weeks.
 
Also, 12th-seeded Angelique Kerber rallied past Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden cruised past 2010 champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 6-2.
 
In men’s action, ninth-seeded John Isner overcame a slow start to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2. The 6-foot-9 American looked headed for an early exit before Kohlschreiber lost control when he was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second. Isner then broke again in the opening game of the third and cruised from there.
 
Sixteenth-ranked Fernando Verdasco eased into the second round when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired with a stomach ache.
 
Coming off a win over Rafael Nadal in Madrid last week, Verdasco won the first set 6-0. Dolgopolov then called for the trainer and clutched his stomach as he went over to shake Verdasco’s hand and concede.
 
Twelfth-seeded Nicolas Almagro defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 13th-seeded Gael Monfils beat Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia 6-4, 6-1, and Australian teenager Bernard Tomic rallied past Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with top-ranked Novak Djokovic on Tuesday night.
 
Others advancing included David Nalbandian of Argentina, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Italian wild card Fabio Fognini.

Roger Federer, who won the Madrid Masters on Sunday and took the No. 2 ranking from Rafael Nadal, says he is unsure whether he will compete in Rome this week. Federer told reporters that he was taking anti-inflammatory medication during Madrid. “I have to give me a few days to see how I feel and make a decision,” he said. “Tomorrow I travel to Rome, and play normally. The truth is that my body hurts after this tournament.”

Federer also said that while he would like to break Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at No. 1, that he could live without the feat. Federer is currently only one week behind Sampras. He last held the No. 1 ranking in June 2010.

“Back then I was just trying to stay world No. 1 and I never really looked at Pete’s record that much,” he said. “I guess I could have chased it a few years ago, just really trying to beat that record. It’s no secret for any player out there that you’d rather be No. 1 than No. 2. But I look at the long term, maybe if I wasn’t good enough to break that record then maybe I never will be… I don’t need to beat every record Pete set, he’s my idol after all and I’m just happy I’m that close already. [But it would be] absolutely amazing.”

Rafael Nadal, now the world No. 3, says he does not care that his ranking has slipped after losing in the third round of Madrid to Fernando Verdasco. Nadal congratulated Roger Federer, who passed him for No. 2, on winning the title and again praised him as “probably the best player ever.”

“Coming to Roland Garros with the No. 2 or No. 3 is not going to change my goal which is winning,” six-time French Open champion Nadal told reporters in Rome.

Serena Williams jokes that Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and others who complained about the slippery blue clay in Madrid are “weenies.”

“Women are way tougher than men. That’s why we have the babies, you guys could never handle kids,” Williams said after beating Victoria Azarenka to win the title.

After winning her first European clay court title since the 2002 Roland Garros with a victory over No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in Madrid, now No. 6 Serena Williams says she has her eyes on the top spot again.

“I don’t play to be No. 2, I don’t think Victoria plays to be No. 2,” she told reporters. “We all play to be the best.”

Serena is still about 3,300 points behind Azarenka for No. 1, who only has 725 points to defend through Roland Garros, so it is will be difficult for her to overtake the Belarusian before the grass court season unless Azarenka totally falters and Serena wins both Rome and Roland Garros. 

Serena, who has now won 13 straight matches on three different colors of clay — on green Har-Tru at Charleston, on red clay in Ukraine during Fed Cup and on blue clay in Madrid — says she loves the dirt. It was her first title on European clay since she won 2002 Roland Garros.

“It’s a big myth because I actually love the clay, I grew up on clay,” said Williams, who played a fair amount on clay after  her family moved from Southern California to Florida. “My results haven’t been stellar, but I have won the French Open, the ultimate clay court tournament. Actually I like it more than the grass, which is weird.”

Fans at Madrid whistle at tournament owner Ion Tiriac and tournament director Manolo Santana during the on court trophy presentation after  Serena Williams beats Victoria Azarenka for the title. The tournament has been embroiled in controversy about the slipperiness of the blue clay. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have promised not to return if the conditions don’t change.

“Do not whistle at him, but at me,” Tiriac told reporters. “I take responsibility for those whistles, Santana should not be blamed. It’s been a tough week for everyone. Not so much for me, because I’m too old. The technicians have worked like dogs until 5 AM to correct the condition of the courts. That the conditions are not perfect is obvious, but they are the same conditions for all players. We have only had about five weeks before the start off the tournament.We tried to make the bounces adequate, but we have not been able to get it.”

The government of Madrid came to an agreement with Tiriac on Thursday and promised to maintain the courts throughout the year. Tiriac has noted that it’s impossible to get the clay courts right when they are taken out and reconstructed every year.

Tiriac also stated that he is planning on keep the clay blue and said that players must keep the changes in perspective. The ATP has yet to decide whether they will allow blue clay in 2013.

“A worldwide tournament is not created for one player, if it was it would fail,” he said. “I don’t when they are going to decide about the blue court,  but we can’t go against their decision. [The players] should consider television audiences. We fight for money, sponsors and television time. And there are studies that tell us that the visibility of the ball increases with the blue.”

No. 1 Novak Djokovic lays into former ATP CEO Adam Helfant for agreeing to allow Madrid Masters tournament owners to install blue clay this year. Djokovic and others have complained that the surface is too slippery.

“They made a decision without the players agreeing on it so this is a rule that has to be changed immediately,” Djokovic told reporters after he lost to fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic in Friday’s quarterfinals. “The tournament have done their job, they represent their own interests so I cannot blame them. They are fighting for their own rights. The fault is from the people who gave them permission to do these things. This is just a clear example of how our system does not work in favor of players. It was the last president [Helfant] who made the decision. It’s very simple. He was going away, he knew his contract was not being renewed so he made this decision on his own … he didn’t really care about tennis, about what the players think.”

Helfant stepped down as ATP CEO last December and was replaced by Australian Brad Drewett.

Helfant told reporters in Madrid that he gave the tournament the go ahead only after receiving assurances the blue courts would play the same as red clay. He added that he consulted the players and tournament officials and because they could not agree, he made the tie-breaking vote

“The blue courts look terrific on TV,” said Helfant. “The ATP has a responsibility to expand the fan base and increase revenue. That doesn’t mean the ATP should throw tradition out of the window but if you don’t try it, if you don’t have innovation, you have no chance at all.”

Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick withdraw from the Rome Masters Series tournament, which begins on Sunday. No. 9 Fish has not played since early in April in Houston due to exhaustion and burn out, while No. 27  Roddick has not played since Miami due to hip injury. Both are scheduled play alongside James Blake —  who is also injured —  at the World Team Cup in Germany the week before Roland Garros. There have been indications that Fish may not return until the grass court season. He will fall out of the top 10 next week. Other top 20 players who will not play Rome due to injury are Kei Nishikori,  Vera Zvonareva, Andrea Petkovic and Daniela Hantuchova.

— Matt Cronin