Williams brushed aside the challenge of French youngster Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-3 seconds before the heavens opened again bringing play to a halt on all courts.
PARIS: Venus Williams joined sister Serena in the second round of the French Open on Monday as heavy rain again badly affected the programme.
Williams, aiming to take the title at Roland Garros for the first time at her 10th attempt, brushed aside the challenge of French youngster Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-3 seconds before the heavens opened again bringing play to a halt on all courts.
Already over three hours were lost at the start of the day as the miserable weather, which all but wrecked Sunday's action, spilled over into the new week.
In the 90 minutes break that saw Williams make it through, there were wins also for Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek, who defeated Severine Bremond of France 6-3, 6-3, and in the men's for Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko who coasted past Stefano Galvani of Italy 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
On Sunday, Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to defeat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria in three sets while top seed and defending champion Justine Henin eased past Elena Vesnina in straight sets.
Elder sister Venus broke early against Cornet to set the pace and she never looked in any danger of allowing the youngster to claw her way back into the match with the help of the Parisian crowd shivering on the Philippe Chatrier centre court. "I got to hit a lot of balls and I was clear on how I wanted to execute especially towards the end," said Williams.
"I was fortunate to be on first and get finished before the rain started again. I'm healthy and focussed."
Davydenko, at a career-high fourth in the world rankings, blasted past the hapless Galvani, the match finishing in the pouring rain.
Asked what he thought of those saying he was one of the few players who had any chance of defeating favourites Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the Russian laughed and said he was not even thinking that far ahead.
"It's a compliment for me, that's for sure," he said.
"But it's the first day, first round and that is all I can concentrate on. For the others we will see later."
Scheduled on the centre court as soon as the rain relented was top seed Federer, this year's Australian Open champion who is aiming to become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to achieve the fabled Grand Slam of tennis.
The Swiss star was up against American journeyman Michael Russell, who gave former King of Clay Gustavo Kuerten a mighty shock here in 2001 before losing in five sets.
But with more rain forcast and 22 out of the scheduled 64 games already postponed until Tuesday due to the lost time, there was no guarantee that he would be able to finish.
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