INDIAN WELLS (California), March 16: Serbia’s world No 4 Jelena Jankovic and twice champion Lindsay Davenport coasted through their opening matches in the Pacific Life Open second round on Saturday.

Jankovic, shrugging off strong winds at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, crushed American wildcard Ahsha Rolle 6-0, 6-2 and Davenport advanced when Argentina’s Gisela Dulko retired hurt with a thigh strain trailing 2-6.

However, world No 2 and top-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic had to fight back after losing the second set before defeating Romania’s Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 in a match lasting one hour, 55 minutes.

Third seed Jankovic, who reached her third Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open in January before losing to eventual winner Maria Sharapova, broke Rolle three times in each set to seal victory in just under an hour.

American Davenport, champion at Indian Wells in 1997 and 2000 and runner-up here four times, broke in the opening game before Dulko summoned a fitness trainer when losing 2-3 on the Stadium Court.

Dulko, who lost to Davenport in the 2004 quarter-finals at Indian Wells in their only previous meeting, had her right thigh worked on and strapped up but was unable to continue after losing the first set.

Ivanovic broke Olaru twice in the opening set and led 3-2 in the second before losing focus. The Romanian, gaining confidence, broke the Serb in the sixth and 12th games to level the match before Ivanovic regained form in the third.

Earlier, sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France hammered Russia’s Elena Vesnina 6-0, 6-4 and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, the 19th seed, swept past Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 6-1.

Qualifier Evgeniya Rodina upset 16th-seeded Virginie Razzano 6-0 6-7, 6-2 and another Russian-French pairing saw 12th seed Vera Zvonareva scrape past Aravane Rezai 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

On the men’s side, defending champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round while third seed Novak Djokovic had to work a little harder to advance.

Spaniard Nadal swept aside Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-3 after Djokovic had survived a shaky second set in swirling winds on the Stadium Court to beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6.

Djokovic, who clinched his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year, struggled for fluency after dominating his opponent with crunching groundstrokes before wrapping up victory in one hour and 40 minutes.

Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in last year’s final at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, will next meet Belgian Xavier Malisse or Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Despite the blustery conditions, Djokovic delivered an exquisite drop shot to break Seppi in the fourth game before breezing through the first set in 36 minutes.

The Serb, who piled up five ATP titles in 2007, broke his opponent again in the fifth game of the second set before squandering his first match point when leading 5-3 and 30-40 in the ninth.

Seppi broke Djokovic for the first time in the 10th game before the two players traded further breaks of serve to level at 6-6 and take the set into a tiebreak.

Nadal, the world No 2 and second seed, broke Giraldo twice in each set to secure victory in just over an hour.

Tenth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych made an early exit, losing 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

In other matches, eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet swept aside Swede Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2 and Spaniard David Ferrer, the fifth seed, eased past Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-2.

Saturday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles: