Serena Williams advances to French Open second round

Serena Williams survived an anomaly as she beat world number 83 Vitalia Diatchenko in the French Open first round.

Williams, who has been battling injury, showed rustiness in a poor first set filled with slack shots.

This season continues to witness first round shocks as the competition has already seen Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber dumped out of the competition. Former world number ones Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams have also suffered first-round defeats, while sixth seed Petra Kvitova pulled out injured.

It started to look like Williams’ name would be added to the list of casualties.

But the 23-time Grand Slam champion found her vibe to claim 12 of the final 13 games and win 2-6 6-1 6-0 at Roland Garros in Paris.

Williams will next face Japan’s Kurumi Nara or Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic.

“There is always a lot of fear for a first-round match,” Williams said.

“I made lots of mistakes in the first set and I just said ‘good luck, Serena’.

“I was strong after that. Now I feel like I need to go and practise.”