Reigning champion Ana Ivanovic stuttered through the first round while Andy Murray, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt all began their French Open trips on high note on Sunday. World number one Ivanovic was made to sweat more than two hours before clinching a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over unseeded Italian Sara Errani, who has never won a match at Roland Garros.

On men's side, big names Murray of Britain and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco comfortably took their places in the next round. The world No. 3 Briton smashed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 and Verdasco, eighth seed, thumped France's Florent Serra 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, smacking 15 aces and 50 winners to underline a strong performance.

Two former world number ones Safin, 29, and Hewitt, 28, notched up points for the old guns in contrasting styles with the Russian beating inexperienced Frenchman Sidorenko in straight sets and the Australian conquering big-serving Ivo Karlovic with a remarkable fightback.

On what is certainly not his favorite surface, giant Croatian Karlovic still managed to rip a record 55 aces in his loss. Hewitt, trailing two sets down, displayed characteristic courage and turned the tide to win 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4 and 6-3.

"To play Karlovic on any surface is hard especially when his ace-count is up in the 50s," said 50th-ranked Hewitt, who underwent hip surgery in August last year.

"After losing the tiebreakers it's more of a mental battle. You have to hang in there and go the distance."

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