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PARIS - Justin Henin opened the defence of her French Open crown with a battling 6-4 6-3 win over 20-year-old Russian Elena Vesnina this morning.
After a wait of nearly six hours because of rain, the world number one, who won the title in 2003, 2005 and 2006, came from 3-1 down in the second set to clinch victory and set up a clash with Austrian Tamira Paszek.
Belgian Henin was broken when serving for the first set at 5-3 but the lapse was only temporary as she broke in the next game to clinch the set.
Vesnina, the world number 65, showed her potential as she broke on her way to a 3-1 lead in the second set but Henin then reeled off five consecutive games to advance to round two.
Serena Williams also recovered from a sluggish start to beat Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 5-7 6-1 6-1.
The Australian Open champion, who won the Paris tournament in 2002 but has missed it for the last two years, struggled at first against an opponent ranked a modest 91st in the world. Making clumsy errors, Williams, seeded eighth, dropped serve straight away and found herself 5-2 down after just 28 minutes.
The American then survived a set point but Pironkova later earned three more, while leading 5-4, wasting all of them.
The 19-year-old Pironkova, who beat Williams' sister Venus in the first round of last year's Australian Open, did not give up and broke her opponent again to lead 6-5.
The match was then stopped for nearly six hours because of rain. When it resumed, Pironkova won her service game to love to wrap up the set.
The 25-year-old Williams then turned on the power, taking the second set 6-1 in 30 minutes with a service winner on set point.
The decisive set was also a formality for Williams, who earned two match points with a blistering return winner.
She hit a return long on the first but on the second Pironkova fired a backhand wide to bow out after two hours 12 minutes of play.
Williams goes on to meet Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano or Venezuela's Milagros Sequera.
- REUTERS
