FRENCH OPEN
Venue: Roland Garros Date: 24 May - 7 June
Coverage: Live on BBC Red Button, live streaming and daily text commentary on BBC Sport website, updates on BBC Radio 5 Live plus second week commentary on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra. TV coverage on Eurosport.

Ivanovic overcame an inconsistent first set to shine in the second

Reigning champion Ana Ivanovic battled her way into round two of the French Open with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over unseeded Italian Sara Errani.

Errani served for the first set at 5-4 but Ivanovic fought back to force a tie-break and won it convincingly.

The eighth seed outclassed her opponent in the second set, breaking in games three, five and nine to secure victory.

Ninth seed Victoria Azarenka beat Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-2, but Amelie Mauresmo lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Mauresmo, who was making her 15th appearance at Roland Garros, has never got past the quarter-final stage in front of her own fans and she quietly slipped out the tournament to the German in a two-set defeat 6-4 6-3.

Ivanovic, who missed last week's Madrid Open because of a knee injury, had the problem area taped when she walked onto Philippe Chatrier court, but it did not hinder her in the early exchanges as she moved 3-1 ahead.

Errani, ranked 44 in the world, stormed back to lead 5-4 but once she had squandered an opportunity to serve for the first set in the 10th game, her fight steadily melted away in the sweltering Paris sunshine.

Ivanovic eased through the tie-break and then dominated the second set, stretching out to a 5-1 lead on the back of two breaks.

606: DEBATE Watching Ivanovic play is incredibly painful at times - saw her finger hovering above the self destruct button on serve during that second set george_the_second

She suffered a slight blip when Errani clawed one break back in the eighth game, but the Serb eventually clinched victory with a swooping forehand in the ninth game after two hours and 22 minutes.

"I knew I had to work hard for my points today, and I'm very happy I did that," said Ivanovic.

"And I kept my composure. 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."

China's Li Na, the 25th seed, became the first player to reach the second round after a 6-4 6-2 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.

The 26-year-old Li, who missed the 2008 tournament because of injury, needed just 72 minutes to make the last 64 where she will face Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.

Li was quickly joined in the next round by promising Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 27th seed, who eased past Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-3 6-2.

Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who came through qualifying, beat 19th seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-2, and 11th seed Nadia Petrova saw off American Lauren Embree 6-1 6-2.

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