Second seed Caroline Wozniacki cruised into round two of the French Open with a straight-sets win over Danielle Collins.
The Australian Open champion brushed aside her American opponent 7-6 (7/2) 6-1 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Having entered a grand slam for the first time since she won one, the Dane said: “It feels great. A little bit less pressure.
“I kind of feel like I have one grand slam now, so no matter what happens, no-one can take that away from me.
Eighth seed Petra Kvitova looked to be in trouble when she dropped the first set against Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg.
But the two-time Wimbledon champion hauled herself level and then edged a nervous final set to win a two-hour marathon 3-6 6-1 7-5.
“It was pretty tough,” the Czech said. “I relaxed in the second and tried to focus on every point. It was the same in the third but I managed to get the break.”
Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, seeded 20th, also failed to make it through round one as she tumbled out 4-6 6-1 6-3 to Colombian qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino.
Back at it ?? #Paris pic.twitter.com/ek17QOgO6a
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) May 23, 2018
Maria Sharapova’s belated return to the tournament was delayed by the weather.
Last year the two-time champion in Paris had recently returned from a 15-month doping ban, but had not built her ranking high enough to qualify and was not offered a wild card.
But 12 months later Sharapova is back in the world’s top 30 and seeded 28. However, her first-round clash with Richel Hogenkamp of Holland was held back until Tuesday with light rain falling and the light failing.
