Venus Williams wins her French Open opener

Venus Williams and former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova were among the French Open women's seeds to record first riound wins on Sunday.

American tennis player Venus Williams

In a record 20th appearance at the French Open, Venus Williams has eased into the second round. (AAP)

In a record 20th appearance at the French Open, Venus Williams has eased into the second round with a straight sets victory over Qiang Wang of China.

Williams, who is seeded 10th, saved two set points in her 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory.

The 36-year-old American will play Kurumi Nara in the next round after the Japanese prevailed 3-6 7-5 6-4 over American wildcard Amanda Anisimova - the 15-year-old making her Grand Slam debut.

Svetlana Kuznetsova struggled to keep up with the score at the end of her first-round victory over Christina McHale.

Eighth-seeded Kuznetsova, who won the tournament in 2009, triumphed 7-5 6-4 but had to check the score with the umpire toward the end.

"I thought it was 4-3. I heard it was 5-4, and then I was just serving for the match," she said.

"I'm like, 'What is the score?' He's like, '5-4.' I'm like, 'Oh, good.'

"And he looked at me like I was from another planet."

Slovakian sixth-seed Dominika Cibulkova took just 80 minutes to account for Lara Arruabarrena Vecino of 6-2 6-1, while Swiss 30th-seed Timea Bacsinszky defeated Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-1 6-2.

Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay caused a boilover when she knocked out 22nd-seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 6-3 6-3.

Roberta Vinci, the 31st seed, could not find a way to end her four-year first-round losing streak at Roland Garros.

The Italian was beaten 6-3 3-6 6-2 by Olympic champion Monica Puig.

American trio Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Shelby Rogers and Madison Brengle all progressed to the second round.

Mattek-Sands beat Evgeniya Rodina of Russia 7-5 6-2, Rogers defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 7-6(7-4) 6-4 and Brengle survived a tough encounter against German Julia Goerges 1-6 6-3 13-11.

Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin won her opener against Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-3, Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine beat compatriot Kateryna Kozlova 6-4 6-0, Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus overcame Swiss Viktorija Golubic 4-6 7-5 6-3 and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko beat American Louisa Chirico 4-6 6-3 6-2.


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Source: AAP


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