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 next faces French wildcard Fiona Ferro with a third-round showdown against Samantha Stosur on the cards. One Australian has already booked a date with one of the women's elite after Ashleigh Barty set up a second-round clash with returning legend Serena Williams.
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.
World No.7 Caroline Garcia produced a stellar display to beat China's Duan Yingying 6-1 6-0 in 58 minutes. Garcia became the fourth Frenchwoman into this year's second round.
Reuters