Safina continues cruise down easy street at French Open

DINARA Safina again looked impressive as she secured her third round place at the French Open with another crushing win.

CRUISE CONTROL: Top seed Dinara Safina has lost only two games in two matches at the French Open at Roland Garros (Getty Images)

Safina is too polite to say it but on this evidence she won't be given a real match until the latter stages of this tournament.

While her rivals have already been tested, most notably Serena Williams yesterday, Safina opening matches have been blink and you'll miss it affairs.

Having progressed past Great Britain's Anne Keothavong without dropping a game, she was equally as imperious against fellow Russian Vatalia Diatchenko.

She took 61 minutes to record a double bagel win over the British number one and took even less, 55 minutes, to dispatch the world number 153 6-1, 6-1.

"I just played a good game today, good enough to win," said Safina, trying her best not to state the obvious. "I've got to be pleased, it's a pretty good start for me. She (Diatchenko) is very young and maybe she respects me too much/

The world number one next faces 17-year-old  Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 27th seed, who reached the third round with a win over France's Julie Coin.

"It should be a great match against Pavlyuchenkova," added Safina.

"She's having a great season but I've never played against her or practised with her so I'm looking forward to it."

Elsewhere, the dream is over for French veteran Fabrice Santoro, who failed to reach the second round in his 20th and final Roland Garros appearance.

The 36-year old, dubbed the Magician, couldn't conjure up a win his fans demanded as he slipped to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to Belgium's Christophe Rochus, in a match held over from the previous day.