Top seed Lindsay Davenport shrugged off a set and a half of sluggish form to overcome Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 3-6 6-2 6-2 in the first round of the French Open today.
The American looked out-of-sorts in the opening exchanges, making a number of unforced errors but she recovered to win the next two sets with a display more in keeping with her status as world number one.
Kim Clijsters, who was unsure even up until this morning whether she would be able to compete in the tournament because of a knee problem, trounced American Meilen Tu 6-1 6-0.
Davenport, who plays China's Shuai Peng in the second round, has been struggling with a hip injury and missed the warm-up events to Roland Garros to ensure she was fresh.
Belgian Clijsters only recently returned to tour action after a wrist injury kept her out for a year.
She will play the winner of the match between Ludmila Cervanova and Aiko Nakamura next.
Meanwhile, title-holder Anastasia Myskina of Russia made history by becoming the first defending champion to fall in the first round of the French Open.
Myskina, the fifth seed, lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to 109th-ranked Spanish player Maria Sanchez Lorenzo in 1hr 44min.
