Serena looked out of sorts early on in the match French Open women's photos

Serena Williams overcame a slow start to the defence of her French Open title to beat Barbara Rittner in straight sets on Monday.

Williams was hesitant early on and looked a long way short of the player who has dominated the women's game for the past 12 months.

She sprayed volleys wide and dumped ground strokes into the net before finally re-capturing some of her best form.

She reeled off 10 points in a row midway through the first set as she broke Rittner twice to take a decisive lead.

She closed out the set 6-2 and made short work of her German opponent in the second, winning it 6-1.

The 21-year-old from Michigan next faces either last year's junior champion Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia or Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian of Switzerland.

"It's nice to be out there where all the magic began last year," said Serena, who beat elder sister Venus in last year's final.

"It's nice to have all the fans cheering me out there. I feel like I'm where I'd like to be."

Fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo - one of only two women to beat Serena this year - defeated Virginie Razzano 6-3 7-5 in 80 minutes to join the world number one in the second round

Mauresmo wasted no time in making sure of her place in the second round

Mauresmo will meet either Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya or Jill Craybus of the United States for a place in the third round.

Fourth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium also strolled through without losing a set, beat Austria's Patricia Wartusch 6-3 7.

Ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova rallied to advance to the second round of the French Open with a 2-6 6-0 6-1 win over Russia's Alina Jidkova.

Hanutchova lost the opening set after suffering 21 unforced errors but the Slovak knuckled down to blow her 104-ranked opponent off the court in 69 minutes.

Eight seed Chanda Rubin - a potential quarter-final opponent for Henin-Hardenne - also breezed through her opening match, beating Slovakia's Henrieta Nagyova 6-2 6-4.

The American is joined in the second round by Greece's Eleni Daniilidou.

The 14th seed comfortably saw off Australian Nicole Pratt 6-4 6-3, but two seeds have already been knocked out.

Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy beat 27th seed Alexandra Stevenson of the US 6-3 6-3, while Frenchwoman Emilie Loit defeated 29th seed Elena Likhovtseva from Russia 6-3 6-2.

Sixteenth seed Ai Sugiyama was made to work hard by Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual, with the Japanese player eventually winning 4-6 6-4 6-4.

But Russian 11th seed Anastasia Myskina had no such trouble against compatriot Dinara Safina, who was quickly dismissed 6-2 6-2.

But former champion Mary Pierce of France crumbled in the red dust as 28th seed Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina dealt her a 6-2 6-3 defeat.

Fernandez, beaten in last year's semi-finals by Venus Williams, will now face Austria's Barbara Schett, who came back to beat Japan's Akiko Morigami 4-6 6-4 6-0.