 Kuznetsova has been in horrid form of late but had too much for Cirstea
Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova survived an early scare to see off Sorana Cirstea and get her French Open campaign off to a winning start. The Russian, on the back of early exits at Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome and Madrid of late, was broken early by her Romanian opponent to slip 3-0 down. But she regained her composure to win nine games on the bounce on her way to a 6-3 6-1 win in one hour 12 minutes. Second seed Venus Williams battled past Patty Schneider to reach round two. The American, defending a 100% record against the Swiss in 10 previous meetings, had problems with her serve and was broken three times - twice to love - by Schneider. However, her famed court coverage helped her to six breaks of serve herself as she eked out a 6-3 6-3 victory. She now faces Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja or Japan's Kurumi Nara, while Kuznetsova faces a potentially tricky tie against Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the second round. Petkovic looked to be set for a swift day's work against Ukrainian Elena Vesnina when she won the first set comfortably, but Vesnina dug deep to win the second set 6-4.  | I would look very stupid (winning) two Grand Slams and doubting if I can play tennis |
It was not enough, though, as Petkovic battled her way though the third, sealing a 6-1 4-6 6-4 victory, thanks largely to a remarkable total of 62 winners. She faces a Kuznetsova in defiant mood, though, following her defeat of Cirstea. Asked about her form coming into the tournament, the Russian replied: "I have not been showing as good results as I would like to, but I knew this moment has to pass because I deserve better. "I was definitely a little bit nervous at first, it was a rough start (going 3-0 down) for me. "(But) I don't doubt my tennis. I would look very stupid (winning) two Grand Slams and doubting if I can play tennis." Elsewhere, Australia Open quarter-finalist Gisele Dulko of Argentina made swift work of ripping up the form book and winning her first-round match against Belarusian 10th seed Victoria Azarenka 6-1 6-2. | 606: DEBATE |
She will now face Chanelle Scheepers after the South African beat France's Mathilde Johansson 6-2 6-4, while 26th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia eased past Russia's Ekaterina Ivanova 6-2 6-0. Azarenka was not the only seed to crash out on the opening day, though, as 20th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez lost 6-2 6-4 to Akgul Amanmuradova, the world number 98 from Uzbekistan. There were no such hiccups for Russian 30th seed Maria Kirilenko after she beat Croatian Karolina Sprem 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. Varvara Lepchenko ground out a straight-sets 7-5 6-3 victory over American compatriot Christina Mchale, while it was a lot simpler for 15th seed Aravane Rezai, the home favourite easing past Heidi el Tabakh of Canada 6-1 6-1. Late in the day, German Angelique Kerber ground out an epic 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win over Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, Austrian Yvonne Meusburger beat Frenchwoman Claire Feuerstein 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 and Johanna Larsson of Sweden overcame Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-2. And in one of the final matches to finish, 19th seed Nadia Petrova enjoyed a comfortable 6-0 6-3 win over unseeded Chinese player Zhang Shuai.
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