Williams overcomes slow start to win

Serena Williams began her quest for a 24th Grand Slam title with a hard-fought win over fellow American Kristie Ahn in the French Open first round.

Once she came through a 74-minute opener, Williams began to play with more belief and clarity as she swept Ahn aside in a 27-minute second set.

Pironkova, 33, was handed a wildcard by Roland Garros organisers after a memorable run to the US Open quarter-finals - where she lost to Williams - in her first tournament since 2017 after giving birth.

The passion of the American is undiminished, saying in the build-up that she would not play on the clay courts in Paris if she did not believe she could win.

Going out in the semi-finals at the US Open was - by her standards - regarded as a disappointment and even though she is not considered one of the favourites on her least favourite surface, anything other than victory at Roland Garros will also be viewed by her as another failure.

Williams had not played on clay since losing to 20-year-old Sofia Kenin in the third round at Roland Garros in June 2019 and looked understandably rusty as world number 101 Ahn made a confident start.

It was a scrappy, difficult first set but to be back on the clay, in a tournament she wants to win, there would have been nerves.

Her opponent played good tennis but, in the last 20 minutes or so after the tiebreak, Williams played very good tennis.