Paris: On second day of the French Open, Spaniard Rafael Nadal made history by winning his record 54th consecutive game on clay.
Nadal beat Robin Soderling of Sweden in the first round at Roland Garros. He has now overtaken Guillermo Vilas's record of 53 consecutive wins.
"It's important for me to be in the history, Nadal said. 54, it's very, very difficult. It's a lot of tournaments, a lot of matches. It's not normal, because one day you can have bad luck, anything."
"If I had to lose that record, I'm pleased I was losing it to somebody like that," said Guillermo Vilas, who won 53 consecutive matches on clay in 1977.
Winners in the women's draw included five-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, playing only her 10th match of the year, and two-time runner-up Kim Clijsters. Both survived error-filled matches in windy weather.
Clijsters committed five double-faults and 32 unforced errors but overcame a 5-2 deficit in the second set and three set points to beat Virginie Razzano of France 6-0, 7-6 (4).
Williams had seven double-faults and 33 unforced errors but beat Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-4, 6-3.
It was the first Grand Slam victory this year for Williams, who lost in the opening round at the Australian Open and was then sidelined for 3½ months by injuries.
Even so, she considers herself among the title contenders.
"I don't think anyone wants to say, 'Yeah, I definitely want to play Venus Williams,'"she said. "I don't think that at all."
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