Top-seeded Simona Halep refused to blame a rain delay for her sluggish start as she recovered to reach the second round of the French Open.
The Romanian world No.1 survived an early scare against Alison Riske, ranked at 83 in the world, and a poor service game contributed to an awful start as she scored just nine points on her first serve.
But Halep, who is still searching for her maiden major title after three failed attempts, roared back in the second set as the 26-year-old restored parity in 24 minutes.
She piled on the pressure in the third set to erase any fears of an early exit, sealing the win 2-6 6-1 6-1 and confirming a second-round meeting with another American challenger in Taylor Townsend.
“I had a slow start because it’s always tough to start this tournament,” Halep said.
“It’s a pleasure to come here and to play, so always I feel nervous at the beginning.
“But it was good that I came back so strong. I felt really well in the end of the match, and that’s the most important for now.”
Elina Svitolina, who beat Halep to retain her Italian Open title in the lead up to Roland Garros, made tough work of Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova but advanced to the third round with a 6-3 6-4 win.
“I’m very happy to win in two sets,” said Svitolina.
“It’s a tough transition from the hard courts to the clay but I try to work on my game and do well here. It’s one of my favourite tournaments.”
The world No.4 swept up the first set on serve but Svitolina had to hold off a gritty fightback in the second.
A blistering backhand helped Svitolina move 3-1 ahead but Kuzmova broke back to equal proceedings.
However, a determined forehand down the line saw the 23-year-old move clear and book a match up with Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu.
Eighth seed Petra Kvitova is also through to the third round with a 6-0 6-4 result over Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena and will next face Anett Kontaveit who beat Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5 6-2.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka also moved to round three with a 6-4 7-5 win over Kazakh Zarina Diyas.
Petra Kvitova, the Czech eighth seed, was untroubled by Lara Arruaberra of Spain in a 6-0 6-4 victory to take her into the third round, where she will face Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit.
Serena and Venus Williams won their first grand slam doubles match in nearly two years on Wednesday.
The American sisters, who last competed at a major tournament together when they won Wimbledon in 2016, moved into the second round by fighting back for a 4-6 6-4 6-1 victory over the 14th-seeded Japanese pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Miyu Kato.