Garbine Muguruza was facing a tricky opening round against Svetlana Kuznetsova at the French Open but her victory in the battle of champions gave the Spaniard an extra boost of confidence.
The third seed Muguruza, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in 2016, prevailed 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 in a rain-disrupted match against the 2009 champion, a clay-court expert very few would like to take on so early in the tournament.
Although she has been struggling to return to top form after undergoing wrist surgery last year, world No.43 Kuznetsova remains a formidable opponent.
Muguruza stayed focused throughout, however, and her power, speed and poise made the difference.
“It is, so to speak, (a) second-week match,” Muguruza told a news conference.
“But this is going to reinforce me. It was a very good first round, and the fact that I won, although it was a very difficult match, it was a match against an expert. The last matches I have played, the results were difficult.
“And I think that I feel very encouraged by this kind of a match.”
Muguruza dropped serve twice in the opening set but easily bagged the tiebreak.
She broke early in the second set and this time did not let her guard down against Kuznetsova, who slipped down in the rankings after returning to the tour only in March.
The Russian saved a first match point with a passing shot, Muguruza sent a backhand long on the second, but Kuznetsova bowed out after sending a forehand way too long on the third.
Muguruza next faces French wildcard Fiona Ferro with a third-round showdown against Samantha Stosur on the cards.
Former world No.1 Maria Sharapova ended up spending more time than she would have wanted defeating Dutch qualifier Richel Hogenkamp 6-1 4-6 6-3 but the only thing that mattered was that she was into round two.
“I really dug deep but sometimes you need to go through these types of matches where things don’t go the way you want,” Sharapova said. “Happy the way I came back in the third set.
“I’m so fortunate to be back in this position, I formed so many great memories here.”
Sharapova, seeded 28th, missed the 2016 tournament while serving a doping ban and failed in her bid to secure a wildcard entry into last year’s event.