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Serena Williams makes impressive start at the French Open

Serena Williams
Image: Serena Williams: Swept aside her opening opponent

Top seed Serena Williams made swift progress to the second round of the French Open after a dominant win over Andrea Hlavackova.

The American, who is targeting her third major title at Roland Garros, showed no signs of her troublesome right elbow as she cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win against the Czech qualifier.

During a typically powerful display, Williams blasted five aces and 25 winners past the outgunned Hlavackova.

After collecting four breaks of serve, the 33-year-old sealed victory in just under an hour and will face play either American qualifier Alexa Glatch or German Anna-Lena Friedsam in the next round.

Crashed out

ROME, ITALY - MAY 14:  Eugenie Bouchard of Canada in action during her match against Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain on Day Five of the The Internazionali
Image: Eugenie Bouchard is out at the first hurdle

Canadian sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard, a semi-finalist in 2014, crashed out in the first round at the hands of France's Kristina Mladenovic.

Bouchard went down 6-4, 6-4 to the world number 44, a defeat which will lead to a dent in her world rankings.

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Mladenovic goes on to face either Danka Kovinic of Montenegro or Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic.

The defeat was the Canadian's eighth in her last nine matches after the season started relatively promisingly with a run to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open.

For 22-year-old Mladenovic, the win follows her first-round defeat of Chinese star Li Na at the French Open at the same stage last year.

"To get past the first round in these conditions, it's magnificent," said Mladenovic.

Gruelling

Petra Kvitova celebrates after defeating Marina Erakovic during the women's first round at the Roland Garros
Image: Petra Kvitova: Struggled to overcome Marina Erakovic at Roland Garros

Petra Kvitova struggled into the French Open second round on Tuesday with a gruelling 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over New Zealand's Marina Erakovic.

The Wimbledon champion, who dropped the second set before coming through, goes on to face Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain for a place in the last 32 after she beat France's Pauline Parmentier 6-4 6-3.

The tall left-hander came up with some impressive forehand winners from the back of the court but was broken six times and committed 47 unforced errors as she struggled to make it five wins out of five against Erakovic.

"I have to say the conditions weren't really easy for me. I think it was quite cold and the balls are really heavy, and they didn't really fly," she said.

"It was very difficult today. It was quite a long match, big fight. Sometimes I couldn't win my serve. So it was a little bit difficult. But that's how it is in the first round of Grand Slams. I'm just glad I'm still in and still playing."

She is the leading name among the 11 Czech players in the women's draw, but Kvitova, who won Wimbledon last year for the second time, says she has never fully got used to being in the limelight.

"It took me a while to get used to all these thing - sponsors, and the media and TV and everything," admitted the 25-year-old, who took a six-week break from the sport earlier this year citing exhaustion.

"So I think it really has to find the balance between everything and it was really difficult. And still I'm happy if I can close the door of my apartment," she added with a smile.

Woz wins

Caroline Wozniacki celebrates after defeating Karin Knapp during the women's first round at Roland Garros
Image: Caroline Wozniacki: Made only a handful of errors

Former top-ranked player Caroline Wozniacki stopped Karin Knapp's good run on clay this season with a 6-3 6-0 win to reach the second round at Roland Garros.

Knapp arrived in Paris on the back of her second career title at the Nuremberg Open last week and with an 8-2 record on clay.

But she was no match for the fifth-seeded Wozniacki, who made it to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros five years ago.

Wozniacki saved the only break point she faced in the first set and limited her mistakes to nine unforced errors.

Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, a finalist at Roland Garros in 2004, was also taken to a deciding set by Kiki Bertens from Holland before coming through 6-1 4-6 6-2.

Zarina Diyas, seeded 32, beat Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier 6-4 6-1 while Julia Goerges was a winner against CoCo Vandeweghe 6-2 5-7 6-1.

Hard-hitting Taylor Townsend, who made it to the round of 32 last year, was beaten by Czech Tereza Smitkova 6-3 6-4.

Townsend has struggled to return to her best form after suffering an ankle injury that caused her to miss two month on the WTA Tour.

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