Paris ? Frustrated by the French clay and a Chinese teenager, Lindsay Davenport glared at her racket, muttered, clenched her teeth and then mounted a comeback.

Twice two points from defeat, the top-ranked Davenport won, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0, Wednesday against 19-year-old Shuai Peng in the second round at the French Open.

“I definitely got lucky and escaped one today,” Davenport said.

The close call wasn’t a shocker: Davenport also struggled in her opening match and rarely plays well at Roland Garros, the only major event she has yet to win. She last reached the quarterfinals in 1999.

“This is going to be my toughest two-week tournament : however long I last,” Davenport said.

No. 11-seeded Venus Williams beat Fabiola Zuluaga, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. No. 14 Kim Clijsters, a two-time runner-up, advanced to the third round by drubbing Ludmila Cervanova, 6-2, 6-1. No. 21 Mary Pierce, the 2000 champion, defeated Jelena Kostanic, 6-1, 6-0.

Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Nicolas Almagro, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 6-2. No. 4 Rafael Nadal extended his winning streak to 19 matches by beating Xavier Malisse, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Nadal next plays fellow 18-year-old Richard Gasquet of France, who beat Peter Wessels, 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-1.

Williams had 45 unforced errors and lost serve seven times. But she won eight of the final nine points and improved to 6-0 against Zuluaga. Williams will next play 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria, who beat No. 19 Shinobu Asagoe, 7-5, 6-2.