Azarenka Cruises to Third Round

Top seed Victoria Azarenka eased through to the third round of the French Open with a 6-1 6-1 victory over Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier.

The 22-year-old world number one is bidding to add the French title to the Australian Open she won in January.

Eighth seed Marion Bartoli served 14 double faults as she surprisingly lost 6-2 3-6 6-3 to Croatia's Petra Martic.

US Open winner Sam Stosur beat American Irina Falconi 6-1 6-4 and next faces 27th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia.

Stosur, who lost the 2010 French Open final to Francesca Schiavone, has dropped only nine games in her first two matches this year.

The 28-year-old Australian again looked comfortable against Falconi, ranked 112, who was appearing in the second round for the first time.

Azarenka, who lost the first set and was a point away from a 5-0 deficit in the second against world number 105 Alberta Brianti in the opening round, needed only 55 minutes to dispatch Pfizenmaier, who is currently ranked 198th.

The Belarusian is seeking to become the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the first two Grand Slams of the season.

She lost the first game but proceeded to win the next 11 in succession against her 20-year-old opponent, who made 29 unforced errors on Court Philippe Chatrier.

"I didn't really know my opponent today, and it took me the first few games to kind of understand what she does and what kind of game she plays to adjust a little bit," Azarenka told reporters. "But after a few games I started to find my better rhythm. Definitely played much better today."

In round three Azarenka will play Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, who beat 31st seed Jie Zheng of China 6-2 6-4.

Bartoli, a semi-finalist last year, came from a break down in the second set to level at one set apiece against world number 50 Martic but never looked comfortable on Court Suzanne Lenglen under threatening skies.

Martic, 21, served an ace on her second match point to complete victory in two hours and 12 minutes, setting up a third-round meeting with 29th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.

Fifteenth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia quickly advanced with a 6-0 6-2 victory over American Vania King.

Cibulkova will meet Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez for a place in the last 16 after the Spaniard beat 20th seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-4 7-5.

Italian Sara Errani, the 21st seed, beat Melanie Oudin of the USA 6-2 6-3 and now plays the 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic , this year's 13th seed, who beat Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2 6-2.

Former world number one Ivanovic, 24, has failed to reach the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in the last three years.

She has a favourable-looking draw through to the last eight this time, where she could face third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

"Even though I lost some matches I should have won or I should have put myself in a better position, I still felt always like I was improving with each week," Ivanovic said. "That gives me confidence. Now I'm starting to play a lot freer and enjoying the competition and building points."

Another former winner, the 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova , needed a second set tie-break to overcome Yung-Jan Chan in an hour and 41 minutes.

The 26-year-old world number 28 will play the winner of Radwanska against Venus Williams.