The top-seeded Russian struggled with her serve in the wind at the French Open, hitting 17 double-faults and barely managing to defeat 103rd-ranked Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 8-6 Wednesday in the first round.
Fifth-seeded Serena Williams, the only former champion in the women’s field, won the final four games to defeat Mathilde Johansson of France 6-2, 7-5 and advance to the third round.
“I haven’t played my best tennis,” said Williams, who won the French Open title in 2002. “Hopefully in the next round I’ll play better.”
Sharapova landed only 64 percent of her first serves in the match on center court, where she is trying to complete a career Grand Slam at the clay-court major.
“I was very close to losing this match,” Sharapova said. “Not many things were working for me today after the first set.”
The 19-year-old Rodina came within two points of winning at 5-4 in the third set, but Sharapova won the next two with strong serves to hold. At 6-6, Sharapova regained control by breaking serve for the first time in the final set, returning a second serve with a big forehand that caught Rodina flat-footed.
Then, serving for the match, Sharapova double-faulted one final time, but took the next three points to end it.
In the fifth game of the second set, Sharapova double-faulted three times in a row. After the third, she put her hands on her hips and stared blankly.
“I had problems in every department of my game today, so I’ll have to improve on every aspect of those things,” Sharapova said.
Although Sharapova had trouble landing her serves, the three-time Grand Slam champion was more consistent with her groundstrokes, often playing long rallies before hitting a winner or waiting for Rodina to make a mistake.
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