Serbian Ana Ivanovic started her title defence with a stuttering 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over unseeded Sara Errani in French Open's opening match on Court Philip Chatrier on Sunday.
The eighth seed had to fight a tiebreaker before watching her Italian opponent commit two uncharacteristic unforced errors to end the 72-minute first set.
With much more confidence in the second, Ivanovic did not waste much time to close out the contest on third match point.
The 21-year-old will now play Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn or Camille Pin of France for a place in the third round.
Ivanovic, who missed last week's Madrid Open because of a knee injury, had the problem area taped when she walked onto court, but it did not hinder her in the early exchanges as she moved 3-1 ahead.
Then she was struggling a bit with her serves and a gritty Errani. While trailing at 5-4, the champion nailed a series of brilliant forehand winners to force a tiebreaker before winning it convincingly.
"Obviously I expected a tough match. I knew I had to work hard for my points today, and I'm happy I did that," said Ivanovic.
"I think this match is going to be a good test, but I feel good. I had really good practice sessions from the beginning of the year. I was working really hard.
"So even though I had some time off during the Madrid tournament, I feel like it takes only few days to get back in shape. I feel very fit," she said.
Ivanovic, who was the top-ranked player for 12 weeks in 2008, has dropped to No. 8 in the world ranking but she believed she had chances to repeat her feat at Roland Garros last year.
"I did it in the past so I believe I have time to do it again. I love playing here on these courts on the clay. I just have to keep my head down and work tough through the matches," she said.
"There are so many players who want to achieve the same thing, but I believe I have quality and I have to go with this confidence for each match."
25th-seeded Li Na of China became the first player to reach the second round after a 6-4 6-2 quick win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.
The 27-year-old, who missed the Australian Open and withdrew from this week's Strasbourg because of injury, needed just 72 minutes to make the second round where she will face Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.
Source:Xinhua
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