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Serena survives after slow start

Serena Williams returns the ball to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova during their first round match at the French Open at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

Serena Williams struggled through the first set on Sunday before a long rain delay allowed her to regroup and dominate Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 on the opening day of the French Open.

The eight-time Grand Slam champion was broken four times in the first set, and again in the opening game of the second, before she found her rhythm and cruised through the remainder of the match.

"I've never gone down in the first round," said Williams, who won the French Open in 2002. "I can breathe now. My goal is to stay not losing in the first round of a Grand Slam."

Marat Safin was the only player to complete a match before soft, persistent rain halted play for about five and a half hours.

The two-time Grand Slam champion beat Fernando Vicente of Spain 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 as rain started to fall at Roland Garros, suspending other matches.

Women's No. 1 Justine Henin advanced to the second round by beating Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-4, 6-3. Her match was the only one to be completed that didn't start in the morning.

"Winning today is all that counts," said Henin, who is trying to win her third straight French Open title and fourth overall. "It was a bit tiring to play in these weather conditions."

Seventeen of the 24 scheduled matches were postponed because of weather.

Tamira Paszek of Austria, who was one game away from the second round when rain halted her match, beat Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 6-0. Dinara Safina of Russia defeated Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4.

"I'm a perfectionist, and I'm always trying to make things perfect."

Serena Williams, US tennis star

"We stopped the match 20 minutes before the end of the other matches, which wasn't easy for me," said Paszek, who will face Henin in the second round. "I had to wait five hours in the locker room."

On the men's side, Potito Starace of Italy beat Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (5), and Janko Tipsarevic defeated Dusan Vemic 7-6 (3), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in an all-Serb match.

Williams pleaded with the chair umpire to stop play while trailing 5-4 with Pironkova serving for the first set for the second time. But play continued and the American broke to get to 5-5.

After Pironkova broke again, play was halted with the Bulgarian leading 6-5.

Pironkova held when play resumed to win the first set, and then broke Williams in the opening game of the second. The Bulgarian won only one more game in the match.

"I pretty much should have won that [first] set," Williams said. "I'm a perfectionist, and I'm always trying to make things perfect."

Safin hit two aces in his opening service game en route to taking eight straight games, before Vicente broke in the third game of the second set.

"It's tough to play with this weather because it's raining, it's not raining, it's windy, and then it's very rough conditions because everything depends on the weather," said Safin, who has not won consecutive matches since March.

The 22nd-seeded Russian converted eight of 14 break points, and his confidence showed in the first game of the third set. He attempted a drop shot that was too short, giving Vicente an easy winner. But instead of trying to retrieve the shot, Safin turned his back and walked away -- knowing he could afford to concede the point.

"I think I can manage to pass two rounds," Safin said. "Then I'll be dangerous."

Safin, who lost in the first round last year but reached the semi-finals in 2002, won on Vicente's second double-fault.

Safin will play the 80th-ranked Tipsarevic in the next round.

Last year in the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup, Safin was stretched to three sets before beating his Serbian opponent.

"He was up a break in the third," said Safin, who eventually won 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. "Been close to beating [Andy] Roddick in Wimbledon last year and [David] Nalbandian this year in the first round [of the Australian] Open."
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