Returning to the stage of her greatest triumph inspired defending champion Garbine Muguruza to down 2010 winner Francesca Schiavone in the first round of the French Open on Monday.

Fourth-seed Muguruza, who had been woefully out of form in the run-up to Roland Garros, never looked in danger and outclassed her Italian opponent 6-2 6-4 in muggy conditions.

There were several top-notch rallies and Schiavone pulled a few tricks from her bag, threatening in the second set. However, she made too many unforced errors to sustain any form of challenge.

Muguruza next faces Anett Kontaveit – who accounted for Romanian Monica Niculescu 7-5 6-1.

Estonian Kontaveit is one of the in-form players on clay this season and beat the Spaniard in the second round in Stuttgart.

“It’s a tough draw. It’s going to be a tough game. She’s enjoying a very good season on clay. She has an aggressive game too,” Muguruza said.

Second-seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic beat China’s Saisai Zheng 7-5 6-2, needing just 80 minutes to progress.

Home favourite Kristina Mladenovic, the 13th seed, overcame a back problem and a tough challenge by American Jennifer Brady, but hung on for a 3-6 6-3 9-7 victory.

Other seeded players to progress were Elena Vesnina (14th), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (16th), Yulia Putintseva (27th), Ana Konjuh (29th) and Zhang Shuai (32nd).

Seeded players to fall were American 19th-seed CoCo Vandeweghe to Magdalena Rybarikova and her countrywoman Lauren Davis (25th) to Carina Witthoeft.

Former French Open finalist Sara Errani has seen off Misaki Soi 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 but former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic lost to 105th-ranked Richel Hogenkamp 6-2 7-5, while Lucy Safarova’s poor run of form continued with a loss to Veronica Cepede Royg.

First-round winners included Tunisian Ons Jabeur, Kirsten Flipkens, Magda Linette, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Catherine Bellis, Johanna Larsson, Mariana Duque, Pauline Parmentier, Francoise Abanda and Varvara Lepchenko.