Nadal to make belated entry, Sharapova opens bid

PARIS (Reuters) - Three-times defending champion Rafael Nadal will hope to make a belated start to his French Open campaign on Tuesday after persistent drizzle gave him an unexpected day's rest.

The heavens opened as the Spanish second seed was preparing to take to Centre Court on Monday against Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci, a man who has just one ATP Tour match win to his name so far this season.

Nadal, unbeaten at Roland Garros since making his bow in 2005, is firmly expected to book a place in round two against another qualifier, Frenchman Nicolas Devilder.

Fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer meets unseeded Belgian Steve Darcis while Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion and the only man to beat Nadal on clay since last year's Hamburg final, plays Brazil's Marcos Daniel.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko will open the action on Court Suzanne Lenglen against former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.

Women's top seed Maria Sharapova is also due to enter the fray on Tuesday when she faces fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, a 19-year-old ranked 103rd in the world, in the last match scheduled for Centre Court.

With home hopes suffering two major hits with the withdrawals of Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga through injury, French eyes will be on Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo.

Bartoli faces tricky Australian opposition in Casey Dellacqua while Mauresmo, bidding to halt a slide down the rankings where she resides at 29, opens Centre Court proceedings against Ukraine's Olga Savchuk.

Only 25 out of 56 first-round matches were completed on Monday before rain stopped play for the day.

(Writing by Miles Evans, editing by Clare Lovell)